Eggs have become costlier by Tk 30-35 to Tk 140 per dozen compared with prices two weeks ago in yet another blow to the consumers, especially the lower income people.  Eggs, the most affordable source of protein for lower-income people, are getting pricier at a time when they are struggling with higher cost of living. On Thursday, this correspondent visited a number of kitchen markets in the capital city to find that depending on the size and quality, a dozen of farm chicken eggs are being sold at Tk 140 to Tk 150.  In some places the asking price was even Tk 155 per dozen. The same eggs are sold at super shops at Tk 170-180 per dozen. Read more: Eggs, meat can be sold at lower prices if govt provides policy support: FBCCI On the other hand, duck eggs are being sold at Tk 80 per hali ( 4 pieces), and domestic chicken eggs are being sold at Tk60-65 per hali. A week ago the farm eggs were sold at Tk105 per dozen in the first week of the current month, while domestic chicken eggs sold at Tk 55-60 per hali, and duck eggs at Tk60-65 per hali. The Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB), responsible for consumer market monitoring, has acknowledged the price hike of all kinds of eggs. The market monitoring cell of TCB reports that the egg price increased by Tk 8 to 10 per hali so far in January, compared with the price beginning of this month. Bangladesh Egg Producers Association president Taher Ahmed Siddiqi told UNB that the demand for eggs usually increases in winter, while production has become stagnant. Many farms were forced to shut their operations during the pandemic-induced lockdown, and are still closed due to the higher cost of production, and lower prices of eggs. Production costs have risen by 70-80 percent in one and a half years amid a tectonic surge in feed prices, discouraging many to do trading amid the risk of losses. Read more: No need to import eggs: Agriculture Minister Consumers Association of Bangladesh vice-president SM Nazer Hossain said consumers in Bangladesh are passing a hard time amid record price up of commodities for higher inflation. Farm egg, broiler chicken, and cultured fish are key protein sources for millions of poor in the country, he said. Prices of all such products have increased forcing a vast population to cut their protein and other nutrition-rich food intake, Nazer said.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday (January 01, 2023) asked the businesspeople and industrialists of Bangladesh to pay at least the cost of generation and procurement of electricity and gas if they want to avail uninterrupted supply of energy. “If you want uninterrupted electricity and gas, then you have to pay the production cost or procurement cost at least. How long we will provide subsidy?” she said. The premier was inaugurating the 27th edition of the ‘Dhaka International Trade Fair (DITF)-2023’ where Bangladesh-made products will be on display for promotion in the international market. Read More: Ensuring access to electricity at an affordable cost is govt’s prime goal: PM’s Energy Advisor Commerce Ministry and the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) organised the month-long largest annual commercial and trade event of the country at its permanent venue – “Bangabandhu Bangladesh-China Friendship Exhibition Centre'' – at Purbachal on the outskirts of the capital. Hasina said that the government can’t provide huge subsidy on electricity and gas for unlimited period that comes from the pockets of the mass people. “We cannot give such huge amount of public money as subsidy, so businessmen and industrialists have to pay attention to this matter,” she said. At the programme the PM declared jute and jute products as the Product of the Year 2023. Read more: Students to get free textbooks despite austerity measures amid global crisis: PM She said that once jute was called the golden fibre of the country. She mentioned that the demand of jute will never end and the jute products are environment friendly. “We have been able to invent the jute genome, so we can produce so many products,” she said. Hasina also mentioned that jute is an all-purpose crop and product and every part of it – from leaves to sticks - can be used. Read More: PMO collecting data to tackle energy crisis in next summer “So we have to give importance to jute. We have opened up our public jute mills and anyone can take lease one of these mills,” she said. In this regard she said that the lessee can operate these mills directly or induct modern technology to produce diversified items. “You can do your marketing across the globe as demand of the environment-friendly products is increasing day by day. You have to take that opportunity,” she said. The prime minister said that the government will introduce 5G for the 100 economic zones across the country. Read more: PM Hasina buys Dhaka's first metro rail ticket to become its first passenger “We have inducted 4G service and will surely introduce 5G service, but this will be done for the 100 economic zones as this service (5G) is not required for all areas. This is applicable for the economic zones,” she said. She said that the government is taking steps towards that. She asked all concerned to put emphasis on IT and IT enabled services. The PM once again put priority on finding new markets and products for diversifying the export basket of the country. Read More: Already riddled with crisis, private power plant operators cry for unpaid bill worth $2.5 billion “Our export items are limited, we are depended on very few export items, this have to be diversified, I am repeatedly saying that the more we will be able to diversify our products, the more we will find new markets, the more we will be able to expand our business and incomes,” she said. Hasina put emphasis on establishing food processing industries to tap the immense potentials of these items around the world. “The demand of food items will not shrink, it will always increase,” she said. Later she visited various pavilions and stalls of the Fair. Read More: Electricity generation disrupted as Kaptai Lake’s water level decreasing A documentary on the country’s overall economic development was screened at the event. Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi, Textiles and Jute Minister Golam Dastagir Gazi , Commerce Secretary Tapan Kanti Ghosh, President of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) Md. Jashim Uddin and EPB Vice Chairman AHM Ahsan also spoke at the programme.

Is the heyday for Kurigram poultry farmers coming to an end? Many of the farmers think so. A lucrative business since 2005 is now losing money. The farmers blame abnormal hike in the prices of poultry feeds, layer chickens and vaccines for their woes apart from the middle men. The Covid-19 pandemic has also hurt the farming. Consider the tale of Md Dollar, the owner of Dhorola Poultry Farm in Kuti village. He started his business with 1000 brown layer chickens in 2005 with an investment Tk 5 lakh. Read: Businesses must take the lead on gearing up for post-LDC era “The business was quite good until 2015/16. That’s why I expanded my business. Currently, I have 20,000 layers in my farm,” he said. He now regrets the expansion as the business has started going down with prices of feeds and other inputs going up. “I have to pay Tk 700 more per sack of seeds. The price soared from Tk. 1600 per sack to Tk. 2300,” he said adding that the prices of vaccines also increased. “Due to the price hike, I am losing Tk 10,000-15,000 per month”, Dollar said.

The arrival of the luscious fruit is a silver lining every summer -- both for the connoisseurs as well as the cultivators of litchi in Bangladesh. However, this litchi season could well turn out to be disappointing, at least for the fruit growers in Kushtia's Khoksha upazila because of something they had no control over -- high temperature and drought. Read Sunflower cultivation in Khulna: Salinity no longer a barrier A number of litchi farmers in the upazila's Gopgram, Satpakhia, Boroi Chara, Basoa, Daskahunia, Manikat villages told UNB that they had high hopes of a bumper crop this summer, a projection based on the healthy flowering of the fruit three-four months ago. But the cultivators said that unfavourable weather had shattered their hopes. They claimed it would be really difficult for them to recover even the production cost this year. Touhidur Rahman, the owner of a litchi farm in Gopgram, said, “A couple of years back, I brought around 20 bighas of land under litchi cultivation. Currently, there are 500 trees in my orchard. But high temperature and inadequate rains have prompted the damage of fruits." Also read: Bumper litchi yield brings smiles to B’baria farmers amid virus worry Last year, he pocketed Tk 3.5 lakh from the sales of litchi. "This year, I may not be able to even recover the production cost of Tk 20,000," the humble fruit grower said. Harez Ali, another grower, said, “I have taken an orchard in Dashkahunia village on lease for Tk 1.80 lakh. At first, I spotted fruits on the 68 litchi trees in the farm. But the unfavourable weather led to cracks on fruits and their subsequent dropping from trees." "I am staring at huge losses this year. The owner of the orchard is also reluctant to return the money," he added. Read Farmers in Bishwanath happy with Boro yield According to the District Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), 103 hectares of land were brought under litchi cultivation in Kushtia this year. Sabuj Kumar Shaha of Khoksha Upazila Agriculture Office, said, “Unfavourable weather may hit a handful of litchi growers in some villages this year, but the production of the fruit in other parts of the upazila is likely to exceed the target set by the authorities concerned.” Read Manirampur farmers making money by broccoli farming

A bumper production of crops usually brings smiles to the faces of producers, but the bean farmers in Dumuria upazila of Khulna are worried as supply glut has pushed down prices to the extent that they fear they won’t be able to get their production cost by selling the vegetable.