A decline in the price of jute in the local market this year has Lalmonirhat farmers worried.
The farmers are selling jute at much lower rates than the cost of production in the local market incurring reasonable amount of loss.
Anxious farmers told this correspondent that they had to sell jute at a lower rate as they needed money for growing paddy during the upcoming season.
One maund of jute is now being sold at Tk800 to Tk1,000 in the wholesale market in Lalmonirhat. Farmers who come by to sell jute at different ‘haats’ (weekly markets) return home depressed because of the low prices.
Mofa Miah, a jute farmer from Borua village in Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila, said, on an average a farmer gains a production of six to eight maunds of jute from each bigha (27 decimals) of land at a cost of Tk6,000 to Tk8,000.
He said: “I cultivated jute on four bighas of land spending Tk27,000 this year and got production of 27 maunds of jute. I have already sold eight maunds of jute at Tk910 per maund in the local market.”
“I had to sell jute at a lower price as I needed money for ‘aman’ farming,” he added.
Delwar Hossain, a farmer from Karnapur village in the Sadar upazila said he sold six maunds of jute at Tk830 per maund which was way lower than its cost of production.
Sanowarul Islam, a patron at Nayarhat, a local market in Lalmonirhat sadar, said he and other customers have been purchasing the best quality jute at Tk950 to Tk1,000 per maund, the lesser quality jute at Tk850 to Tk900 and the lowest quality at Tk800 to Tk850 from growers.
Lalmonirhat AED official sources said a total of 5,470 hectares of land have been cultivated with the goal of producing 284,000 maunds of jute this year.
Deputy Director of Lalmonirhat AED Abdul Mazid said many farmers did not cultivate jute this year as they could not recoup the costs of production for the year before. If farmers do not get a fair price for jute this year, many of them might lose interest in jute cultivation for the next term,he said.
“The farmers can benefit if they can sell one maund of jute at Tk1,200 to Tk1,400,” he added.
