Cold storage can save farmers from ruins

Farmers’ combined efforts help the nation get a steady supply of vegetables throughout the year.

They produced 1.72 crore tonnes of vegetables in fiscal 2018-19, up 8 per cent from the previous year. And so far this fiscal year, they have produced 54 lakh tonnes, according to data from the Department of Agricultural Extension.

Come rain or shine, their industry does not stop. And true to form, they are working tirelessly round-the-clock even during the countrywide general shutdown to keep away COVID-19.

Yet, they are in misery.

As many traders from cities and deficit zones cannot visit the producing zones, particularly in the distant districts from Dhaka, in the absence of public transport, a large number of farmers are failing to get buyers to sell their produce.

While the demand for fruits and vegetables have increased in recent days for improved transport movement and slack enforcement of shutdown, a fair price is still eluding them.

Take the case of pumpkin. Farmers had to sell each kilogram of the vegetable at Tk 5 in the north district Thakurgaon yesterday. In its neighbouring district Panchagarh, grower Delwar Hossain had to sell the rotund squash for Tk 6 per kilogram.

In normal times, when buyers from other parts of the country would visit his field, he would get to negotiate a price he deems to be fair.

The shutdown has ruined that scope, forcing Hossain or pumpkin producers in the adjacent district to accept whatever prices they get.

And it is not just with pumpkin; Hossain and his fellow farmers had to count losses on brinjal and cucumber too since the shutdown began on March 26.

Asked what can be done to ensure fair prices for the perishable produce, Hossain had no answer.

But Majedul Islam of Thakurgaon and a small cold storage owner Mohammad Shah Alam of Rangpur and some other wholesalers had an answer: storing.

Many fruits and vegetables can be stored for a certain period.

“We kept pumpkin in our cold storage for three months and the quality did not deteriorate and tomato can be stored for more than a month. Similarly, we can store green chilli and brinjal for nearly three weeks. We kept ripe mango last year and got good results,” Alam said.

A cold storage mechanic by profession, Alam constructed a five-tonne capacity cold storage in his village at Mithapukur of northwest division Rangpur last year to stand by farmers, who have to sell mangoes and other vegetables at throwaway prices during peak season in the absence of any storage facility.

“We got initial success last year. We are hopeful that more farmers will keep their mangoes in the coming season. Farmers get higher prices when they can sell in the lean season,” he added.

At Cumilla’s Nimsar, one of the biggest vegetable market in the southeast, or at Dhaka’s Karwan Bazar, vegetable wholesalers Mohammad Abdus Salam and Mohammad Habib had the same opinion.

Habib said farmers, particularly in the faraway districts, were hit hard after buses went off the road alongside a lot of truckers following the enforcement of shutdown from March 26.

To compound farmers’ woes, a travel ban to the EU and the US also choked off vegetable exports.

And Dhaka, the biggest consumer also saw a sharp decline in demand as a large number of people left for their ancestral towns and villages.

Restaurants consume a big portion of vegetables but their closure wiped out demand too.

“People are not getting out of their homes other than for emergency purposes. All these factors affected farmers of both perishable vegetables and seasonal fruits like watermelon,” he said.

The fact that a large number of people are suffering from a sharp drop in income also contracted demand.

“People have little appetite to buy,” said Abdus Salam, a vegetable wholesaler at Nimsar Cumilla, early this week.

Mohammad Yousuf, director general of Department of Agricultural Marketing (DAM), said a special type of cold storages should be developed and his office has placed a project proposal of Tk 205 crore to build 15 agricultural commodities storage facilities in various parts of the country.

An online market platform involving all stakeholders including farmers should be developed too.

“At the same time, we need to expand and diversify agro-processing,” he added.

Some 30 per cent of farm produce get damaged and subsequently lose their market value because of poor post-harvest management, said Md. Atiqur Rahman, post-harvest management expert of Hortex Foundation who is currently working at the National Agricultural Technology Programme-phase II.

Establishment of packing house for washing, sorting, grading and packing in major fruit and vegetable-producing regions will be advantageous for both farmers and traders.

Market actors in agri-business should be given support to do so, said MA Sattar Mandal, former vice-chancellor of the Bangladesh Agricultural University.

“Agri-business is a concept that is slowly emerging in Bangladesh. This should be brought to the fore with a big push.”

There is a large number of wholesalers and traders in the agri-business value chain.

“But we admonish them without understanding them properly and it appears that they are responsible for everything. This ignorance is cruel.”

This is a big class and they should be provided with training for skill development.

“They need literacy, numeracy, accounting and ICT skills. They should be integrated with the market and be seen as a pro-active force. For this, policy reorientation and thrust are needed. At the same time, adequate budgetary provisions should be kept for this.”

He also called for higher prices for agriculture.

For this, market infrastructure should be developed, which is an important part of modern agriculture.