CHT fruit growers provided short end of the stick
For those who have had a pineapple recently, there's a fairly good chance it originated from the Chittagong Hill Tracts. That's as the three districts take into account some 60 % of the juicy fruit consumed in the united states.
The same applies to bananas. Several seasonal fruits including papaya, mango, jackfruit, litchi and watermelon have already been the decision for mass-level cultivation in Rangamati, Bandarban and Khagrachhari for days gone by decade.
And, thanks a lot to the application of organic fertilisers, generally there is now a good consensus that the fruits from the region have an amplified flavor.
The harvest of pineapple and watermelon have already started while in the coming a few months plucking would start for mango, jackfruit and litchi. April, Might and June will be the busiest of times for harvests and revenue.
The Department of Agriculture Expansion (DAE) expects farmers to keep bumper productions as in previous years for the presence of favourable weather.
With their main markets being ever-growing cities like Dhaka, Chattogram, Sylhet and Narayanganj, there is supposed to be no issues of farmers struggling to get just prices.
Yet that is exactly what is happening, right now exacerbated by the global coronavirus pandemic.
That is because, in terms of the trade of the fruits there is still a reliance on a vintage practice of middlemen.
These traders go out to the cultivators a while before harvests and choose a cost with the farmers for all of their manufacture. They take the manufacture to the locations to market off to smaller dealers.
This practice limits offers available to farmers while urbanites continue steadily to dole out high prices, meaning a considerable chunk of the value of the fruits is being pocketed somewhere along the way.
Take the court case of Ananta Chakma.
Though he had an excellent harvest cultivating pineapples on around five acres of terrain in Chowdhurychhara village under Naniarchar upazila of Rangamati, he believes he would just be able to recover his creation cost.
He said the middlemen usually offer rock bottom rates citing low demand and today were blaming the countrywide shutdown centring the novel coronavirus pandemic.
He expects to make revenue of aboutTk 5 lakh this season.
"I could possess earned at least Tk 6 lakh to Tk 7 lakh," Chakma said.
Another good example came from Basanti Talukder who cultivated bananas about 2.5 acres land in Perachhara village.
The joy of a bumper harvest has been dampened by too little buyers. She actually is even unsure of whether she would manage to sell the bulk of her produce.
Talukder said these times there were even insufficient hands open to get the bananas to the marketplace as persons were avoiding social contact to prevent the spread of the virus.
The Daily Star got in touch with one of the middlemen who desired never to be named.
He said truck local rental costs had opted up by Tk 10,000 while law enforcement were extorting traders in loading points.
Accurate and comprehensive info on harvests are tricky to find for all 3 districts.
The DEA expects more than 2 lakh tonnes of mango to result from the three districts while another 2.5 lakh tonnes of jackfruit, 75,000 tonnes of litchi and 10 lakh tonnes of bananas.
A lot more than 60,000 tonnesof pineapples and at least 1,000 tonnes of watermelon have already been produced on Rangamati this season. In Khagrachhari, at least 25,000 tonnes of pineapples have already been cultivated.
That farmers aren't getting just rates from middlemen has been recognized by Paban Chakma, deputy director of the DAE in Rangamati.
The DAE was providing support though police and the civil administration in order that businesspeople could take their consignments to Dhaka and Chattogram smoothly.
According to Md Martuz Ali, deputy director of the DEA in Khagrachhari, the source chain managementwasstill properly working as the neighborhood administration was providing assist as per directives of Primary Minister's Office.
"We happen to be providing support right to farmers to make sure good harvests and rates," he said.
Nevertheless, he admitted that farmers in some instances may not be getting prices that they had been expecting for the shutdown.
