Mustard growers in Rangpur unhappy with price

Around two lakh mustard growers in five districts of Rangpur division are unhappy with the market price.

Mustard is being sold at Tk 2000-2300 per maund in the market, down from Tk 3000-3300 in 2022.

The growers had cultivated mustard on two times more land this year following advice of the Department of Agricultural Extension.

With the production cost having increased by around Tk 1,000 per bigha of land, many growers are facing a loss from their harvest this year.

They opined that mustard has become an unprofitable crop and so they are losing interest in cultivating it.

According to the DAE, mustard was cultivated on 1,01,750 hectares of land in Lalmonirhat, Kurigram, Rangpur, Nilphamari and Gaibandha districts this year with a production target of 2,00,000 tonnes. About two lakh farmers cultivated mustard, of them around 34,000 received government's incentives.

Last year, mustard was cultivated on 52, 500 hectares of land in the region, said DAE officials.

"I harvested 31 maunds of mustard from my six bighas of land, spending Tk 42,000 on production. I sold it for Tk 64,000, making some profit, but with rising production costs and stagnant prices, I'm unsure about future cultivation," said Sudhir Chandra Barman, 60, a farmer of Bangram area under Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila.

"We were hoping for a price of at least Tk 3,000 per maund, but the price in market is ranging around Tk 2,200. It is disappointing. I will not cultivate mustard from next season," said Sekender Dewan, 65, a farmer of Nazirerhat area under Rangpur Sadar upazila.

Safur Ali, a mustard trader at Jorgach Haat (market) in Chilmari upazila of Kurigram, said, "There is a huge supply of mustard in the market. We are buying mustard from farmers at last year's market price."

"If the companies that produce mustard oil and oil-cake increase the price of mustard, we would also buy at a higher price" he added.

Contacted, Obaidur Rahman Mandal, additional director of DAE in Rangpur, said the issue with the market price is complicated.

"Farmers are frustrated because they are not getting fair price. If the farmers sold mustard after a couple of months, they would have got their expected price, but it is not possible for them as they need cash for their next season's cultivation."