Real experiences, published anonymously and with permission.
A bhapa pitha seller in Sylhet, in a Prothom Alo report
Food processingSylhet
Unable to fund restocking, he left the cloth trade for a bhapa pitha cart: 6-7 kg of rice flour a day, 25-26 pithas from each kilo at 10 taka each, and 500-600 taka left after expenses.
A date palm sap tapper in Bauphal, Patuakhali, in a BSS report
Agriculture & farmingPatuakhali
He once tapped 30-35 date palms for 15-20 litres of sap a day; now 16 trees give 4-6. The price has risen from 50-60 taka a litre to 100-120, but the lost volume is larger than the price gain.
An areca nut orchard owner in Fulbari, Kurigram, in a Daily Star Bangla report
Agriculture & farmingKurigram
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.
A dragon fruit grower in Jhenaidah, in a Prothom Alo report
Agriculture & farmingJhenaidah
He started in 2017 when dragon fruit was still scarce in Bangladesh. In the early years a single bigha sold about 10 lakh taka of fruit; by the 2025 season the same bigha brought 3 to 3.5 lakh.
A floating-bed (dhap) farmer in Pirojpur, in a Daily Inqilab report
Agriculture & farmingPirojpur
This farmer works 15-16 floating beds, each 60-foot bed costing 7,000-10,000 taka to build. During the COVID period seedling prices fell from 8-9 taka the year before to as little as 2.
A college student running a quail farm in Gopalganj, in an Ajker Patrika report
Agriculture & farmingGopalganj
He started with 35,000 taka saved from freelancing and 500 quail chicks, losing about half of it for want of training. The farm now holds 1,500 birds and 900 eggs a day, leaving 50,000-60,000 taka a month after costs.
A woman running a dairy farm in Begumganj, Noakhali, in a Prothom Alo report
Agriculture & farmingNoakhali
A pair of gold earrings sold for 50,000 taka bought one Friesian cow nearly two decades ago. The herd is now 60 head giving 200 litres a day and about a lakh taka a month after costs, yet a flood killed 15 animals and brought 1,000 taka of assistance.
A tailor in Mirpur
Home & local servicesDhaka
A second machine would have doubled Eid income, but sat idle the rest of the year.
