Natore district administration has inaugurated a watermelon sale programme in the district to break the middlemen's syndicate and ensure fair prices at the farmer and consumer level.
Deputy Commissioner of Natore Md. Shahriaz officially inaugurated the watermelon sale programme in front of the central mosque market of the city at around 10 am on Sunday.
Among others, Superintendent of Police Liton Kumar Saha, Deputy Director of local Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) Subrata Kumar Sarkar and Mayor of Natore Municipality Uma Chowdhury Jolly were present on the occasion.
The district administration has taken this initiative to deliver watermelons collected directly from the farmers to the general public at a fair price. However, the district administration is selling watermelons at Kg as well.
Deputy Commissioner Md. Shahriaz said that farmers can sell watermelons at Tk 25 to 40 per kg depending on the size at the sale center.
Watermelon has been cultivated on 868 hectares of land with a yield of 36,456 tonnes in Natore district this year. For several days, traders were syndicating at different points in Natore city and selling watermelons at Tk 45-55 per kg. As a result, ordinary buyers could not buy watermelons. When the matter was reported to the district administration and district police administration, they promised to take action. Following this, the district administration has started selling watermelons to ensure the purchase and sale of watermelons at a fair price to the farmers and consumers.
