Kongkon Karmaker

Farmers and entrepreneurs who rear cattle for meat and milk in the country’s northern districts are currently suffering from an abnormal hike in feed prices.

People mainly from the ethnic community of Ramchandrapur village under Kaharol upazila of Dinajpur usually spend a portion of their day catching snails in Dhepa river, which once was a significant source for edible breeds of the shelled gastropod.

With litchi season creeping ever closer, farmers in Dinajpur are spending busy days caring for their orchards in order to ensure maximum output of the mouth-watering tropical fruit, weather permitting.

Garlic farmers in the country’s northern districts have been left dismayed as the price of the highly-popular cooking ingredient has fallen at wholesale and retail levels due to a supply glut amid the ongoing peak harvesting season.

Bangladesh’s northern region has turned into a plastic recycling hub as many people in eight districts are now engaged in turning hazardous waste such as discarded PET bottles and disposable syringes back into resources for these products.

Kazi Abu Saad Chowdhury, a resident of Ghoraghat upazila in Dinajpur, has found an answer to his financial woes in the form of Vietnamese dwarf coconut trees.

The hard-rock mined by Maddhapara Granite Mining Company Limited (MGMCL) in Parbatipur upazila of Dinajpur is getting costlier for end-users as dealers are charging higher rates than that of the state-run company.

In a worrying trend, a group of farmers in northern districts are selling wheat spikes as cattle feed in order to make a higher profit since they don’t get fair prices for the final produce.

Farmers in Dinajpur and Rangpur are spending busy days in their fields to cultivate boro, the largest crop in Bangladesh.

Sunflower cultivation in Rangpur is expanding as farmers in all eight upazilas in the district are opting for the oilseed crop considering its higher profitability compared to tobacco.

Vast swathes of cropland in the northern districts have been affected due to water-logging caused by rainfall that lasted from Friday morning until early the next day, with farmers apprehending losses.

Farmers in Dinajpur who cultivate aromatic Kataribhog rice are now delighted at prices having substantially increased recently as demand has gone up.

The amount of land used to grow medicinal plants in Panchgachhi union of Rangpur’s Pirganj upazila has expanded significantly as farmers now find such crops more profitable considering that demand increased manifold over the past decade.

Despite having multiple physical complications including visual impairment, 40-year-old Abdus Salam runs his family like any ordinary person without stooping low. Despite the cruxes, Salam is traversing the path of life with his head high.

She was an eccentric woman in her thirties. She had no recollection of her last address and was seen lurking at the corner of a bridge at Kalitola in the city of Dinajpur, be it during the harsh grasp of winter, in summer or in pouring rain. It was as if that was her abode.

Cross-border trade through Hili land port in Hakimpur upazila of Dinajpur has been suspended indefinitely as Indian truckers are protesting allegations of weight tampering in export shipments, according to local businesspeople.

Although  the Hili land port in Dinajpur’s Hakimpur upazila has a tendency to  exceed its annual revenue target, things may be different this year as  traders are opting for other ports with better facilities, according to  local experts.

Nando Rani, 30, is still reeling from trauma after what she and her family suffered on the night of October 17.

Fishermen of Majhipara village look to the Akhira for their livelihood, but since October 17 they have been unable to answer the river’s call even though they need its bounties desperately.

They were already cringing in horror over what had happened at different places across the country over the last few days.