To cut its reliance on subsidy, the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh is adding spices and tea after soap, detergent and salt, and plans flour too. Its chairman says the new goods will also sell below market prices.
CropsEkangi, a ginger-family medicinal crop, covers 11 hectares in Meherpur this season; growers speak of profits above Tk 4 lakh a bigha but also of leaf and root rot after continuous rain.
Former banker Syed Aminul Kabir's Star Agro supplies ginger, garlic and onion powder to Bangladesh's big food brands and is close to a deal with Japan's Ajinomoto, but broken roads and no gas at the BSCIC estate hold it back.
Improved varieties and mixed cropping of onion with black cumin and coriander can raise spice yields and incomes on Bangladesh's char lands.
A trial plot of super hot chilli on just 10 decimals of land in Kaliganj, Gazipur, has brought farmer Kamal Sheikh a good harvest and good market prices, and he plans to expand next season.
About 30 varieties of turmeric are used in the cooking of Asia, Africa and South America, and sales of turmeric supplements in Western markets are rising fast.
Faridpur farmer Habibur Rahman has made several times his costs from just seven alubokhara trees after cutting down 18 others in frustration.
HealthIn a June 2026 Jagonews24 feature, former teacher Bibi Shahijan traced how the herbs and spices of the Bengali kitchen became subjects of laboratory research, a growing market and an opportunity for Bangladesh, while urging caution over adulteration and self-treatment.
A good onion crop in Meherpur has left farmers facing losses, with market prices below production costs and fears of imports during the harvest.
A young farmer in Barishal's Gournadi has grown about 100 maunds of hybrid turmeric on fallow land at low cost, and neighbours now want to follow him.
Poor yields and dried turmeric prices well below last year's have left hill farmers in Rangamati disheartened, with some warning growers may give up the crop.
Low costs and strong prices have pushed coriander cultivation in Shariatpur past its target, though farmers want cheaper fertiliser and pesticide.
Ginger grown in sacks in yards and on fallow plots is becoming popular in Narayanganj, with growers expanding from dozens to hundreds of sacks.
