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Mixed experienceAn areca nut orchard owner in Fulbari, Kurigram, in a Daily Star Bangla report

A 25-30 percent bigger crop, and income halving from 8 lakh to 4

Five hundred areca nut trees brought about 800,000 taka last year. This season the trees yielded 25-30 percent more, but wholesale prices fell 60-65 percent, and he expects no more than 400,000.

This orchard owner in Fulbari upazila, Kurigram, has 500 areca nut trees and earned about 800,000 taka from them last year. This season the trees yielded 25 to 30 percent more nuts, but wholesale prices fell 60 to 65 percent across every grade. Large nuts that fetched 550-600 taka per pon went for 180-200; medium fell from 400-450 to 130-150, and small from 280-300 to 80-90. Despite the better harvest he expects no more than 400,000 taka this year, roughly half of last. A second grower in Lalmonirhat with 80 trees, who normally earns 60,000-65,000 taka a year, reported the same squeeze.

Lessons

  1. 1.A bumper harvest and a good year are not the same thing: with no storage or processing option a tree crop leaves you fully exposed to the season's price
  2. 2.Income from tree crops can swing by half from year to year, so it cannot be budgeted like a salary

Published with the person's permission, without revealing who they are.

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