One maund (40kg) of radish is being sold for Tk 20 at the fields in the district, worrying the growers.

The price was Tk 120 to Tk 160 at the same time last year, farmers said.

Farmer Nazrul Islam, 48, of Khochabari village in Sadar upazila, said he needs to sell two maunds of radish for buying one kg of rice as radish price has fallen sharply in the local market.“I spent Tk 3 to Tk 4 for producing one kg of radish this season, however, it is being sold at fifty paisa now,” he said, adding that he got good prices from selling radish from the first week of December last year to middle of January this year.

“I sold 50 maunds of radish for Tk 1,000 on Tuesday, but the labour cost for harvesting those was Tk 1,200,” said Rashedul Islam, 50, of Kamlabari village in Aditmari upazila.

Delowar Hossain, 55, of Hajiganj village said he cultivated radish on five bighas of land and sold the crop from two bighas for Tk 10 to Tk 15 per kg from the last week of December to mid-January, while radish from the rest of the land was sold at below the production cost.

Vegetable trader Hira Lal Roy, 45, at BDR Hat market, said most customers are not interested in buying radish this year, so it is being sold at Tk 1 to Tk 3 per kg in the local market. “Sometimes we throw away huge quantity of radishes as we cannot sell those,” he added.

Customer Ziaul Islam of College Road said various types of vegetables are available at fair prices, so they were not interested in buying radish. “We purchased radish at high rate when those vegetables were not available in the market,” he said.

District Marketing Officer Abdur Rahim said radish price fell sharply in the local market due to huge supply of other vegetables this year.

Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture Extension in Lalmonirhat Bidubhushon Roy said radish was cultivated on 345 hectares of land this year, while it was 320 hectares last year.

He said farmers are getting low prices from selling radish that was cultivated late, however, they got high profit from farming the early variety. They got bumper production of radish due to good seeds and favourable weather this year, he added.