Frustration grips growers as jute prices remain low
A farmer who brought six maunds of jute to Nobaber Haat, a weekly village market, in Sadar upazila of Lalmonirhat for sale on Thursday last, anxiously waits for a 'good' customer.Photo: STAR
Low prices of jute in the local markets in the districts have come as a big frustration for the farmers this year. As the prices of jute fell abnormally, the growers are now worried whether they would be able to recoup the production cost. In Lalmonirhat, one maund of jute is now being sold at Tk 800 to 900 in the wholesale market, reports our correspondent. Farmers who come to sell jute at different haats (weekly markets) return home frustrated because of low prices of jute. Farmer Gokul Roy of Borua village in Sadar upazila said that on an average a farmer produced 5-6 maunds of jute from each bigha of land at a cost of Tk 4200 to 4500 this year. “I cultivated jute on four bighas spending Tk 17,500 this year and I got 22 maunds of jute. So far, I have sold eight maunds of jute at the rate of Tk 815 a maund till last week. I'm now waiting for fair price of my rest 14 maunds of jute. I don't know what would happen to me,” he said. Atiar Rahman, 45, who went to Nobaber Haat from Karnopur village in Sadar upazila, said “I took ten maunds of jute to sale at the market last Thursday. But I sold those at Tk 830 a maund which is far below my production cost.” “I was compelled to sale jute at low price as I badly needed money to continue aman cultivation and meet up family expenses,” said Mozahar Ali, 55, a farmer at Phulgachh village in Sadar upazila. Farmers are not getting the govt ernment fixed rate as the middlemen are purchasing jute at low prices from the growers, he alleged. Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila Agriculture Officer Mohammad Nuruzzaman admitted that the farmers were not getting fair prices of jute in the district. If the growers don't get fair price from jute this year, many of them will lose interest in farming jute in the next season, he said. In Pabna, jute was selling at Tk 900-1200 a maund this year, which was over Tk 1100 to Tk 1800 last year, reports our correspondent. Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) sources said that around 31,340 hectares of land were brought under jute cultivation in the district this year. More than 80,000 tonnes of jute have been produced in the district this year, they said. Around 1.5 lakh farmers of Pabna district face a huge loss of Tk 200 crore due to low price of jute this season, they added. Visiting different jute markets in several upazilas, this correspondent last week found that most of the farmers could not sell their jute due to low prices while many others were compelled to sell their produce despite low prices out of family hardship. Market sources alleged that the jute growers are being badly affected as the local traders formed syndicate and arbitrarily reduced the jute prices. Minaz Ali, a farmer at Kalikapur village under Ishwardi upazila of the district said, "I got 126 maunds of jute this year cultivating 14 bighas of land. I had to sell those at Tk 1 lakh 13 thousand although the production cost was more than Tk 1 lakh 46 thousand. Another farmer Alek Ali of the same village alleged that the production cost of jute shot up this year, but the prices declined abnormally. Farmers at the village said they were facing difficulties with their produce and incurring a huge loss. We are forced to sell our jute to the wholesalers on credit under the pressure of middlemen and we don't know when the payment will be made, said a poor farmer.
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