On Wednesday morning at Naogaon’s Doctor’s Mor, it was observed that farmers had brought cauliflowers from their fields to sell from the early hours of the day.
But they faced difficulties selling them.
Prices per piece were as low as 50 paisa, and even then, many struggled to find buyers despite waiting for hours.
Farmers said they received good prices for cauliflower last year, which encouraged them to cultivate it again this year.
However, with the current prices, they are unable to recover even their production costs, let alone make a profit.
While consumers are benefiting from the low prices, the farmers are at risk of losing their livelihood as they struggle to cover expenses.
Farmers believe the market slump is due to an oversupply of cauliflower this season, unlike the beginning of the season when limited production led to higher prices.
Altaf, a farmer selling cauliflower, said: “It cost me Tk17,000 to Tk18,000 to cultivate one bigha of cauliflower. Now I am forced to sell each piece for 1 to 2 taka, and even then, there are no buyers. I can’t even make Tk2,500 to Tk3,000 from an entire bigha of cauliflower. How will we survive? I borrowed money to cultivate cauliflower, and now I can’t even repay the loan.”
Another farmer, Sirajul Haque, said: “I cultivated cauliflower on one bigha of land. Each cauliflower plant cost me 6 to 8 taka.
Now, I’m selling them for 50 paisa, Tk1, or Tk1.5 each.
The earnings are not even covering my transportation costs. Seeing this market condition breaks my heart. It feels like I should just feed the remaining cauliflowers in the field to the cows.”
According to the District Agriculture Extension Department, cauliflower was cultivated on 600 hectares of land in Naogaon this season, with an estimated production of 6,200 tons of cauliflower.