Agri Biz
Farmers inspired by single success in Barguna
Former expat Habibur Rahman Matubbar, a resident of Kewabunya village under Amtali Upazila in Barguna, has been enjoying great success in cultivating malta on his 15 bighas of land for the past seven years or so.
Matubbar, who lived in Saudi Arabia for almost 20 years, pondered how he could make an income after returning to Bangladesh in 2015 and this led him to the success story of another malta farmer that was posted on YouTube.
Inspired to try his hand at growing the fruit, Matubbar developed 15 bighas of land near his house with the assistance of CM Rezaul Karim, the Upazila agriculture officer.
Having planted a total of 5,000 saplings, the orchard produced Tk 1 lakh worth of malta within a year.
Matubbar says his garden, where he grows other crops as well, earned him at least Tk 12 lakh over the past four years.
Apart from malta, which is a type of orange, he also grows mangoes, lemons, bananas, papayas and litchi to earn roughly Tk 3-4 lakh each year.
In addition, there are two ponds that have a radius of three bighas each that Matubbar uses to cultivate various types of fish, which earn him another Tk 3-4 lakh annually.
However, he insists that malta remains his biggest earner with yields increasing every year.
Matubbar is now well renowned for his success as a self-sufficient farmer with neighbors and locals from near and far coming to consult him for agricultural work.
Many people are even trying to imitate his success by growing various fruit, including malta, papaya, guava and banana in their backyards to meet their own food needs and earn an extra income.
“In just five years since my time abroad, I have become a successful malta farmer who earns lakhs of taka each year,” Matubbar said.
“Besides, I am now the ideal farmer as I cultivate different varieties of fruits and fish as well. I am proud of this work,” he added.
The former expat went on to say that his malta usually sells for between Tk 200 and Tk 250 per kilogram.
Harun Or Rashid, a neighbor of Matubbar, said many people in the area are now cultivating malta and other fruits.
Upazila Agricultural Officer Karim and other agriculture officials often visit Matubbar’s farm, which has helped bring a source of nourishment to people in the region.
Due to his success, many farmers from Kewabunya village and its surrounding areas are cultivating different varieties of fruits in what were once paddy fields.
Md Badrul Alam, additional deputy director of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in Barguna, said malta is a profitable agricultural product.
“Due to its good demand and price across the country, farmers are increasingly turning to malta cultivation. In Barguna, 20 hectares of land has been cultivated this year and the acreage grows annually,” he added.
Malta production across the country doubled between fiscal 2018-19 and fiscal 2020-21. Farmers bagged 7,000 tonnes of the fruit in fiscal 2020-21, up from 3,000 tonnes the previous year. The total acreage under malta cultivation grew more than four times to 13,000 acres at the same time, according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has asked all concerned to find a way out to ensure sustainable export growth and explore new global markets for Bangladeshi goods in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine war.
The Prime Minister made the call while speaking at the 11th meeting of the National Committee on Export, at her official residence Ganabhaban in Dhaka on Monday (20 March).
PM said, “Steps will have to be taken to achieve sustainable export growth after analysing situation steamed from the global economic recession due to the war in Ukraine,” she told the 11th meeting regarding export at her official Ganabhaban residence here.
The prime minister also urged all concerned to diversify the export items and explore new markets for those alongside revitalising the local markets.
“A new scope has been created globally to explore new markets for Bangladeshi items due to enhanced demands for goods because of the war in Ukraine. We have to grasp the markets,” she added.
The premier also called for formulating a new export policy for another 4 or 5 years by revising, changing and improving the existing one going to expire by 2024.
She said the new export policy should be adopted by analyzing the ongoing global economic recession, sanctions, counter-sanctions for the war and the challenges and scopes possibly to be created in Bangladesh after the graduation from the LDC by 2026.
Presently, the consumers will have to spend more money than usual in case of purchasing dates and other fruits—two essential items in iftar during Ramadan, due to importers’ difficulty in opening letters of credit (LCs) on time.
Price hike is a most common phenomenon ahead of the month of Ramadan in Bangladesh, and this year even more due to the LC opening crisis.
Already, the price of dates has doubled in the wholesale and retail markets and it will be more expensive ahead of Ramadan, said some businessmen.
The price of all types of dates has hiked in the local markets ranging from Tk 40 to Tk 160 per kg while different fruits range from Tk 30 to Tk 100 per kg.
Some traders said the prices of these essential iftar items will increase further during the month of Ramadan as they are facing difficulties in opening LCs which will push up the prices of dates and fruits.
According to the sources at Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB), the price of dates increased by 20 percent compared to the last year.
Milton, a shop owner in the Baridhara area, said “The price of dates went more expensive in the past month ahead of Ramadan and I was able to purchase a limited amount of dates due to the soaring price of it.
He also feared that the price of dates would be soared further in the month of Ramadan.
Habibur Rahman, a fruit trader said the price of every fruit has increased.
Whatsoever, ajwa variety of dates is being sold at Tk 750-800 which was available at Tk 600-700 last year. Mariam variety of dates is being sold at Tk 800-850 while the premium variety of dates is being sold at Tk 1000-1200 per kg.
According to the statistics of Bangladesh Bank, the import of dates has fallen by almost half compared to the demands of it but during Ramadan the demand for dates is about 50,000 tonnes.
In the past three months, only 22,000 tonnes of dates were imported which is 46 percent less than the last year. However, the authorities concerned related to import dates have opened LC of 29,000 tonnes dates in January, said sources at Bangladesh Bank.
Sirajul Islam, president of Bangladesh Fresh Fruits Importers Association, said the demand for dates increases three to four times during the month of Ramadan. Besides, there is a demand of 50,000-70,000 dates in the country in a year while 40,000-50,000 is needed in Ramadan alone, he said.
Referring to the opening of LC, Sirajul said “This year the traders faced difficulties in opening LCs in time as they had to open it by paying 100% cash margin while it was 5 percent. The small traders are the worst sufferers in opening LCs.”
The dates are being imported from the Middle East and Africa and dates were being stocked five-six months before the Ramadan, he added.
He also said that the price of dates may increase 30 percent in Ramadan due to the dollar crisis and transport cost caused by the fuel price hike.
If the government will take steps in unloading dates in ports on a priority basis, then there will be no instability in the market, said Sirajul.
Contacted, Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi, said “We’ll take necessary steps so that the consumers can purchase dates, the most essential items in iftar, at a tolerable price.”
He also assured of keeping monitoring the market to prevent volatile price hikes of dates.
Issuing a warning, the minister also said strict action will be taken against those involved in increasing the price of dates after creating an artificial crisis.
The state-run Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) has taken an initiative to sell 6 essential items to some 1 crore low-income groups of families ahead of the holy month of Ramadan.
TCB will start selling 3 essential items – edible oil, sugar, dates and chickpeas and lentils—among such families from Thursday (March 9). These essential items will be sold in two phases. In the first phase selling of the items will start from Thursday across the nation.
Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi will inaugurate the sales of essential items formally through a function at Tejgaon in the capital on Thursday.
The cardholders can buy the six goods at subsidized rates from the TCB’s specific sales points and dealers’ outlets. Any cardholder can buy 2 litres of soybean oil, 2 kg lentil, sugar, chickpea and 1 kg date at a time. All the specific card holders can buy sugar at Tk 60/per kg, date at Tk 100, lentils at Tk 70, chickpeas at Tk 50 and soybean oil at Tk 110 per liter.
