Basabari Bazar: Country's largest arum market

BENAPOLE, July 24: Basabari Bazar in Sharsha upazila of Jashore district is the largest wholesale arum (mukhi kachu) market in the country.

Local farmers sell lakhs of takas of mukhi kachu every day from morning till midnight in this market. They directly sell the agricultural product to the traders.

Traders from across the country purchase mukhi kachu at wholesale prices from the growers in the market.

The fresh mukhi kachu here meets the needs of different areas of the country including Dhaka, Rangpur, Rajshahi and Sylhet.

Farmers sit on both sides of the roads on the north-southern and east-western sides of Basabari market displaying several thousand sacks of their produce for the buyers.

The entire marketplace brims with large supplies of mukhi kachu.

Shahjahan Ali who came to sell his produce said that this was the best mukhi kachu market in the country where one could sell the item at the best price.

Moreover, the communication arrangement here is good due to which farmers can get highly benefitted by selling mukhi kachu at wholesale prices directly to the traders.

Another farmer Bazlur Rahman said, "I've come to sell mukhi kachu from the nearby upazila Jhikargachha. Basabari market is for outsider wholesale traders to whom it has a high demand."

"We can make a good income alongside selling mukhi kachu to our full satisfaction," he added.

Some farmers said that they have been coming to the market for the last four-five years to sell mukhi kachu. There is no additional hassle in the market. Farmers never have to take their mukhi kachu back home. Mukhi kachu is sold here so easily and the price is also fair.

Premium quality mukhi kachu is sold in the market at the wholesale price of Tk53-60 per kg.

But sometimes the price rises or falls more or less.

Farmers' sources said production of per kg mukhi kachu costs Tk30.35.

Asad Mia, a local farmer, said that farmers brought mukhi kachu directly to the market after collection from fields.

Traders can select and collect different grades of mukhi kachu as per their choice and need.

Salim Reza, chairman of Nizampur union of the Upazila, said that Basabari wholesale market was working to elevate the fate of farmers.

Farmers of some unions of nearby Jhikargachha upazila, including Nizampur, Dihi, Laxmanpur and Bahadurpur, are able to sell mukhi kachu directly in the wholesale market.

In order to facilitate marketing, it is expected that cultivation of mukhi kachu will increase on a large scale in near future.

Sharsha Upazila Agriculture Officer Deepak Kumar Saha said mukhi kachu is a profitable crop.

A total of 180 hectares of land have been brought under the cultivation of mukhi kachu in the upazila this season.

Moreover, in the future there will be a large increase in the cultivation of the crop in this upazila.

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