Many potato farmers across Bangladesh are incurring losses this season despite a bumper harvest and the highest exports in three years, as a steep drop in domestic prices has left them unable to recover even their production costs.
Nur Islam has been selling tea at the same humble price for decades
Tea production in the northern plains dropped by nearly 20 percent in 2024, as erratic rainfall, poor market prices, and irregularities in factory accounting took a toll on the sector.
Local folklore suggests that a person named Sheikh Malek Uddin Akheruzzaman constructed the mosque
Cultivation of wheat has hit the lowest on record in the current season in Bangladesh as many producers opted to grow potato and other high-value crops on land previously used for the second most important staple food after rice.
In addition to its lush tea gardens and the breathtaking view of the majestic Kanchenjunga, blooming tulips have emerged as another jewel in Panchagarh’s winter landscape -- but only as a tourist attraction, as farmers struggle to maintain cultivation and earn a profit.
"It's nearly impossible to stay outside in this relentless cold blowing in from the north," said a local.
Small and marginal potato farmers in Thakurgaon and Panchagarh districts have been left in a quandary as cold storage owners in the region are saying their spaces have been completely filled.
Mustard growers in Thakurgaon and Panchagarh districts are elated thanks to the higher output in the ongoing harvesting season as well as the increased price of the cooking oil owing to rising consumption amid the volatile soybean oil market.
Tulips are being grown all over Sharialjoth village in Tentulia upazila of Rangpur’s Panchagarh district in a bid to increase tourism and boost the regional economy, according to local officials.
Potato growers of Thakurgaon and Panchagarh districts are distraught over apprehensions of incurring huge losses for a second year in a row as the market has seen a sharp fall in prices.
Geyser, once thought to be a luxury item afforded only by the wealthy, is increasingly gaining popularity among lower and middle-income groups in Bangladesh as they heat water to beat winter.
The country’s northwestern region, which emerged as a tea producing zone in recent years, is expected to register record production of tea in 2021 thanks to favourable weather and growing interest among locals seeking to profit from rising internal consumption of tea.
Tourists from across the country are now flocking to Tetulia upazila in Panchagarh district in hopes of catching a glimpse of the peak of Kanchenjunga, the world’s third highest mountain.
Sweet orange grown in the country’s northern districts such as Thakurgaon, Panchagarh and Dinajpur are dominating the local fruit market this season thanks to increased demand and reasonable prices.
Several hundred trucks have been waiting outside the Banglabandha land port for the past 12 days for space to be made available for exports to be offloaded on the Indian side.
‘Camellia Khola Akash School’ (Camellia Open Sky School), an innovative initiative of the Bangladesh Tea Board (BTB), is eying to create expert tea farmers, develop the skills of small-scale tea farmers and flourish tea cultivation in five northern districts including Panchagarh, Thakurgaon, Nilphamary, Lalmonirhat and Dinajpur.
