The guava farmers in Jhalakathi are being deprived of fair prices because of absence of proper road communication facility in the region.
This season, the guava farmers expected to transport guava to the capital and other cities as one year ago Japan International Corporation Agency (Jica) took up a Tk5 crore project to improve communication system in the region.
However, because of their sluggish construction work, the transportation of guava is highly hampered, claimed a number of guava farmers and traders.
Guava cultivation is the primary source of income for majority of the inhabitants of 36 villages under Jhalakathi sadar upazila and Swarupkathi upazila which are known as guava producing areas.
Guava farmers blamed that four bridges and a two kilometre wide road from Baukathi to Bhimruli, the central guava selling point in the region, were left in a half-built state. Therefore, they had to sell guavas at a dirt cheap rate this year.
Owner of a guava orchard, Nirmal Bepari, who came to sell guava at Bhimruli Bazaar said the market for the seasonal fruit was down this year.
Another guava farmer Shomoresh Halder said until the roads and bridges were completed they could not get fair price.
Farmers from different villages come to the Bhimruli haat to sell guava on boats.
Sale rises when agro-based companies like Pran Foods Ltd come to buy guavas, otherwise the farmers are compelled to sell their produce at a low price, they said.
This year, the guava is being sold at Tk80-400 per maund.
Deputy Director of Jhalakathi Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) Abdul Aziz Farazi said: “Despite ample production this year the farmers are hardly cutting any profit as the roads and bridge project is not completed yet. Farmers could get higher price if a factory for processing and preserving guava was established in this region.”
