Skip to content
  • Our data is copyright protected — copying without permission is prohibited
  • We handle no money, ever
  • No business is promoted for payment
  • Tell us if something is wrong — we check and fix it
AyRojgar
More stories
What went wrongA watermelon farmer in Kalapara, Patuakhali, in a Daily Inqilab report

21 lakh taka on 64 bighas: what sold for 9 lakh last year fetched under 2

Twenty-one lakh taka went into 64 bighas of watermelon. The crop came in but buyers stayed away and the field price fell from 2,200 taka a maund to 1,200; he expects to lose about 12 lakh on the season.

This farmer from Charchanuapara village in Lalua union, Kalapara upazila, Patuakhali, put 21 lakh taka into 64 bighas of watermelon. The crop itself came in, but wholesale buyers did not turn up and the field price collapsed from 2,200 taka a maund to 1,200. Two truckloads that had brought him nine lakh taka the previous year sold for under two lakh this time. He expects to lose about 12 lakh taka over the season. The same report describes a farmer at Nayakata who planted 24 bighas and is close to ruin, and another at Kuakata who has quit watermelon altogether after repeated losses.

Lessons

  1. 1.Watermelon profit rests on buyers turning up at harvest, not on yield: a good crop with no paikars is still a total loss
  2. 2.Scaling to 64 bighas of one perishable crop with no storage or forward contract put the whole 21 lakh at the mercy of one week's market

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

Discussion

Nobody has written yet. Be the first.