Farmers of Ukhia and Teknaf upazilas in Cox’s Bazar have achieved a bumper production of betel nuts this year because of favorable weather.
Both farmers and traders are expecting a turnaround from losses suffered during the past few years, as a spike in betel nut prices is bringing in more profits this year.
Local haats or markets are selling 80 pieces of high quality betel nuts for Tk250 to Tk350. Local traders purchase betel nuts from the haats and later sell it at different areas of Dhaka, Chittagong and Rangpur. Shafiul Alam, a betel nut trader, said this season’s bumper production has also ensured high quality betel nuts in the market.
Abdul Jabbar, a farmer, said: “I may earn Tk100,000 to Tk200,000 from production on one acre of land.”
Md Yusuf Bhuiyan, an agriculture officer at Ukhia upazila, said: “Farmers have cultivated betel nuts on 300 hectares of land. At least 30,400 tonnes of production, worth around Tk500m, are expected from the upazila this season”
Md Abdul Latif, the deputy assistant agriculture officer of Teknaf said: “We are hoping to get 27,280 tonnes of betel nuts from 1,240 hectares of land.”
Last year, a draught had damaged a huge amount of betel nut production in the district.