Alam Sarowar Tito, Kishoreganj :
The farmers in haor areas have witnessed a bumper harvest of sweet Pumpkins this year specially Itna, Mitamoin, Nikli, Austagram, Netrokona’s Khaliazuri, Madan, kendua upazilas.
While the high yield initially raised hopes of good profits, plummeting market price have left manufacturers disappointed.
Sweet Pumpkins are currently being sold at taka 7 to 8 per kg in the wholesale markets, making it difficult for growers to recover their production cost.
Lenin Miah’s two and a half acres of land has yielded about 250 maunds of sweet pumpkins this time. Last year too, he sold each pumpkin for 18-20 taka. This time, he is getting 8-10 taka. This has put this farmer of Baribari Haor in Itna Upazila of Kishoreganj in trouble. The situation of other farmers in the same haor is not different. Many of them have rotten sweet pumpkins lying on their land.
On Saturday , a pile of fresh sweet pumpkins could be seen in Baribari Haor. Numerous rotten sweet pumpkins were left next to them.
Farmers said that they have to sell a huge amount of sweet pumpkins at the price of water.
Local wholesalers are buying these and loading them on trucks to supply to other districts.
Farmer Lenin said that the reason for the price drop this time is somewhat understandable. He said that the prices of all types of vegetables were much lower this time. The sweet pumpkins from his land were suitable for harvesting during the fasting period. But then there was no demand in the market. Given these reasons, wholesalers now do not want to buy sweet pumpkins at the previous price. Because of which all farmers like him are suffering.
The voice of farmer Billal Miah from the same area is also filled with despair. He has grown about 50 maunds of sweet pumpkins on a small land and is in trouble. When he tries to sell them
, he gets half the price of last year. Local wholesaler Golam Kibria buys sweet pumpkins from Lenin’s field. This time he bought 10 tons of sweet pumpkins. He was loading them into a truck with the help of workers. Golam Kibria said that the amount of sweet pumpkins produced in Kishoreganj cannot be sold in the local market. Every year, he sends them to different districts including Dhaka and Tangail. This time too, he has bought 10 tons to send to the warehouse in Tangail.
According to this businessman, if the price of agricultural products is high, just as farmers benefit, traders also benefit. This time the price has come down so much, the profit rate will naturally decrease.
Sweet pumpkins rich in beta-carotene are beneficial for eyesight, especially for night vision patients. Giving this information, Additional Deputy Director (Crops) of the District Farm , Shahinul Islam said that various private seed companies have encouraged farmers to cultivate sweet pumpkins in large quantities.
Till now, farmers were getting good prices. But this year, especially in the Rabi season, due to the abundant yield of vegetables, the prices have also fallen. It was the month of Ramadan during the harvesting of sweet pumpkins. Sales are very low compared to the supply in the market. All these have affected the sweet pumpkins. Therefore, farmers are not getting the expected price. As a result, many are leaving mature sweet pumpkins in the field. These sweet pumpkins have rotted in contact with the soil.
Agriculturist Shahinul Islam also said that mature sweet pumpkins can be stored locally for up to six months. But this time, farmers have no way to store the huge production of sweet pumpkins. There is no cold storage or alternative system to store these vegetables in Kishoreganj either.
