On the Matamuhuri char: 65,000 taka an acre to grow, 72,000 of profit expected

The Matamuhuri char at Chakaria in Cox's Bazar used to grow almost nothing but tobacco. Growers have been moving the land into winter vegetables and seasonal crops, peanut most of all, and the upazila's peanut area has risen to 462 acres this season from 450 and 425 in the two previous financial years, at least 350 of those acres on the char itself. This grower at Surajpur has 6.5 acres of it and was harvesting, sorting and sacking when the reporter visited. He puts his cost at about 65,000 taka an acre and expects to sell about 1,37,000 taka worth, which would leave roughly 72,500 taka of profit per acre and about 4,64,000 for the season - what he expects at harvest, not money already in hand. The growers' one complaint is the tobacco still grown nearby: they say the chemical fertiliser used on tobacco fields is depressing yields on the surrounding land, and that a plant which used to give up to 250 grams now gives about 100.