Rajshahi banana traders make huge profit in Ramadan

Brisk trading along with the high selling price of bananas has delighted the farmers and traders concerned during the month of Ramadan in Rajshahi region.

Ripen banana is seen selling at a higher price everywhere in both wholesale and retail markets side by side with the vendors as the demand for the fruit has enhanced to a greater extent.

Farmers cultivate varieties of bananas like Anupam, Zin, Champa, Meher Sagar and Manik commercially as they can harvest these varieties within a lesser time. They are satisfied this year with the sale proceeds.

Currently, the banana is being judged as one of the cash crops in the region, including its vast Barind tract, and its commercial farming has been gaining ground with farmers reaping a sound profit from the cropping.

Mamun Hossain, a farmer of Tanore upazila, said farmers benefited from banana farming more than any other crop. So, its farming is increasing side by side with other crops.

Moreover, when the trees are small in size, some other crops can be cultivated on the same land as companion crops.

Shahana Begum, a banana farmer of Pakuria village under Paba upazila, said this year, the price of bananas is satisfactory.

Umme Kulsum, Additional Deputy Director of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), said banana is cultivated on comparatively high lands, free of water logging.

Farmers in Bagmara, Tanore, Mohanpur, Durgapur and Paba upazilas dig ponds in their fields and cultivate bananas in the enclosure of those ponds.

She said this year bananas were cultivated on more than 10,000 bighas of land than that of the last year. He said 300 to 350 banana plants can be transplanted on a bigha of land and it costs Tk 23,000 to Tk 25,000 to cultivate bananas on a bigha of land.

There was no problem in selling bananas because the wholesale traders purchased those from their fields.

At present, a huge supply of banana is seen in the markets of Baneswar, Jhalmolia of Puthia upazila, Mollapara and Baya of Paba upazila, Mougacchi and Keshorhat of Mohanpur upazilas. But Puthia upazila was topping the list in cultivating bananas.

Dr Shafiqul Islam, principal scientific officer of Fruit Research Station in Rajshahi, said the banana is one of the commercially important fruit crops in the region.

He said that bananas are one of the best fruits in Bangladesh. It’s tasty, easily accessible and nutritious. Fruit bagging technology is being widely used in commercial banana farming in many countries like the Philippines and Thailand.