In Thakurgaon Cauliflower Prices Do Not Cover Labour Costs; In Bogura Farmers Are Dumping Radishes

Supplies of winter vegetables have risen in the market, but demand has not risen in proportion. As a result, vegetable prices are falling almost every day. Winter vegetable farmers in Thakurgaon say they cannot recover even their production costs; for many, the price does not cover transport to market and labourers' wages. In Bogura, meanwhile, farmers are dumping radishes for lack of a price.

Cauliflower and cabbage yields have been good in various areas of Thakurgaon. Farmers complain that although the vegetables sell at higher prices to consumers, they themselves do not get a fair price. At wholesale, a maund of 43 kg of cabbage sells for just Tk 400 — about Tk 9.30 per kg. Yet farmers say the same vegetable sells at Tk 30 to 40 per kg at retail.

Farmers say that if a price of Tk 15 to 20 per kg could be ensured at farm level, the pressure of production costs would ease somewhat.

Mansur Ali, a farmer from the Begunbari area of Thakurgaon Sadar upazila, grew cauliflower on two bighas of land this season. He said his costs from preparing the land to producing the crop came to about Tk 120,000. At current market prices it will not fetch more than Tk 80,000.

Mansur Ali said, 'We grow the crop in the field, but we have no hand when the price is set. At Tk 400 a maund, even the labour cost does not come back.'

Shahabuddin, another farmer from the area, said he has to hire labourers at Tk 500 a day to harvest the cabbage. With selling prices so low, he is struggling even to decide whether to harvest the crop.

Farmers say that because there are no cold storages or processing industries at local level, vegetables produced all at once in the season have to be sold quickly. Even when prices fall, farmers have no scope to wait.

Majedul Islam, deputy director of the Thakurgaon district Department of Agricultural Extension, said favourable weather this year led to early cabbage and cauliflower being grown on more land than the target. Prices fell because larger supplies reached the market at the same time. He described the situation as temporary and said prices could rise when supplies normalise and winter deepens.

At Mahasthangarh, Bogura's largest wholesale vegetable market, cauliflower sold on Wednesday morning at Tk 700 to 800 per maund, cabbage at Tk 15 to 20 each and radish at Tk 200 to 400 per maund. Sweet pumpkin sold at Tk 1,000 per maund, bottle gourd at Tk 15 to 20 each, beans at Tk 1,300 to 1,400 per maund, cucumber at Tk 1,000 per maund and yardlong beans at Tk 40 per kg.

Rahedul Islam, a wholesaler at the Mahasthangarh market, is himself a vegetable farmer; he grew radish on three bighas of land. He said that with prices falling every day in the market, he stands to lose about Tk 30,000 this time.

Jahedur Rahman, a farmer from Shankarpur village, brought two maunds of radish to sell. Prices were so low that the sale money would not cover the van fare and labourers' wages. In the end, after selling one and a half maunds, he was forced to dump the rest by the roadside for want of a buyer.

Ismat Jahan, agriculture officer of Bogura Sadar upazila, said the vegetable market also has a link with potato prices. With potato prices low this year, people are buying comparatively fewer vegetables. On the other hand, winter vegetable yields have been good because there was no natural disaster. These are the reasons vegetable prices have fallen in the market.