Success and failure stories

Early vegetables on Bhola's chars: Tk 17 lakh lost to a cyclone, and replanting brought no profit

A farmer in Daulatkhan, Bhola, grew early vegetables on 7.5 acres and lost about Tk 17 lakh when Cyclone Midhili brought tides and rain. Replanting set him back about a month and a half, prices fell, and sales only covered harvesting and carrying costs.

Two diagnostic centres in Sreepur shut for operating without approval; three centres fined Tk 13,000 in total

At Mawna Chowrasta in Sreepur, Gazipur, a mobile court fined two diagnostic centres Tk 5,000 each and shut them for operating without approval. A third centre with an expired registration was fined Tk 3,000 and ordered to renew within three months.

A portal launched as the online edition of a planned daily closed in six and a half months with about 30 staff

The news portal Sarakkhon was launched in September 2020 as the online version of a planned daily newspaper. When the second Covid wave made the daily uncertain again, the owners, unwilling to carry the losses, shut the portal in April 2021.

Ran for

6 months

Started in 2020

750 sacks in the warehouse, 1,000 farmers at the gate: a fertiliser dealer loses Tk 15,000 when the fence is broken

In Rowmari, Kurigram, about 1,000 farmers gathered at a fertiliser dealer's warehouse and, amid pushing, broke the fence and door and took around 50 sacks. Equal union-wise allocation, sales points that open only every few days and supply below demand had built up the pressure on the dealer.

Coloured tomato sauce made without a food licence: Sakhipur factory fined Tk 3 lakh and shut

A factory in Sakhipur, Tangail, had long been making tomato sauce, juice, lassi and chanachur with colours and chemicals and selling them. A mobile court fined it Tk 3 lakh and shut it until it obtains a licence.

Tk 30 for a 19-litre jar, no licence: 48 jar-water firms fined and shut in three months, 20,000 jars destroyed

Countless jar-water firms have sprung up in Dhaka without BSTI approval; one study found faecal bacteria in 97 percent of jar water. In drives over the first three months of 2018, 48 firms were fined and shut and 33 people jailed.

A 65-year tin-can coconut oil market lost: oil spoiled in plastic bottles, and learning the technology took 4-5 years

Local companies built tin-can coconut oil brands over decades but lost the market to a foreign company that arrived with plastic bottles in 2002. Local firms' bottled oil went bad before its expiry date and had to be withdrawn.

Brands' share fell from 55% to 12-13%: ACI stopped making coils under pressure from unlicensed factories

In a coil market of about Tk 1,500 crore crowded by hundreds of unlicensed factories, big brands such as ACI and Mortein stopped production. They say these factories use excessive chemicals, pay no tax and ignore the rules.

Tk 10,000 spent on 40 decimals, hairy caterpillars across the whole soybean field; hoped-for Tk 10,000–14,000 profit in doubt

A 70-year-old farmer in Subarnachar, Noakhali spent Tk 10,000 on soybeans on 40 decimals, hoping for 12–15 maunds. Hairy caterpillars have attacked his whole field, and farmers say pesticides are not working.

Capital

৳10k

Pineapple on 2 acres in Madhupur, a Tk 50,000 loss; farmers get Tk 10–15, cities pay Tk 40–50

A Madhupur, Tangail pineapple farmer lost Tk 50,000 on two acres last year. Despite GI status, farmers sell at Tk 10–18 a fruit in wholesale markets while the same fruit sells for Tk 40–50 in Dhaka.

Tk 2,000–4,000 extra per deed; two association leaders lose licences after ACC probe

In Badarganj, Rangpur, the deed writers' association president and secretary lost their licences in 2020 after an ACC probe, yet were alleged to still lead extra collections on every deed.