Happy Eid in Farmers’ Homes

Prof. M Zahidul Haque

Prof. M Zahidul Haque

Eid’s festivity and mirthfulness is meant for all—elder to young, rich to poor, farmer to fishermen, in one word—for everyone!

Eid-ul-Fitr, one of the greatest Muslim festivals is observed in both urban and rural arrears of Bangladesh with great enthusiasm and religious gaiety. Eid-ui-Fitr marks the end of Ramadan—the holy month of fasting which symbolizesunity, compassion, brotherhood and friendship between and among the fellows, neighbors and people living in a society. On Eid day people forget social classification, petty differences of opinion and embrace each-other close to heart denoting the universal philosophy of living in peace and harmony.

In Bangladesh, farmers and their family members are the main component of the rural society. Farmers grow different food crops for the entire nation and they are the driving force of Bangladesh’s agro-based economy. In rural Bangladesh, Eid celebration is marked by traditional customs and rituals as a festival of amity and harmony. After attending the Eid congregation at an open field (called Eidga), villagers visit one another’s house and exchange greetings, takes food especially prepared on the occasion of Eid like Shemai (vermicelli).

In rural areas Eid Melas (fairs) are organized with cultural functions, games and sports, boat-race and many other traditional events. In these fairs, handicrafts, different traditional food items including chira, muri, khai. monada and many other sweets are sold. For children’s amusement, merry-go-round, puppet-show, bioscopes, etc. are arranged. Rural people including farmers do a great fun in these Melas.

Eid, of course a very happy festival for all but it is unfortunate that in most years, farmers are constrained to celebrate Eid with due pleasure, comfort and happiness! Because farmers of Bangladesh are much vulnerable to various natural hazards; every year floods, droughts, cyclones, excessive rainfall, etc. plus some systems problems like marketing channels, storage, etc. puts farmers into a great economic hardship. The climate change impacts are getting more and more intense and jeopardizing the smooth flow of traditional agriculture in Bangladesh. Often less production and excess production of crops creates havoc for the farmers due to a number of reasons—farmers’ unfriendly marketing system being the prima-facie cause.

Even in 2024, farmers faced unfavorable weather events plus unfriendly agricultural marketing of their produce, for instance, farmers could not sold their huge vegetables crops mainly brinjals (eggplants or aubergine) and gourd. 

Despite bountiful harvest, farmers had to sustain financial loss.

The year, most farms had grown brinjals. The production was also very encouraging. But the price of brinjals had drastically fallen due to huge production of brinjals. The farmers thought that the demand for brinjals would increase during the holy month of Ramadan as people buy more brinjals during the month for preparing Iftari items including ‘Beguni’ ! But as ill luck would have it, they were constrained to sell their binjals as the price of brinjals fell beyond expectations; in some places, brinjals were sold Tk8/- per mounds. But in the capital Dhaka it was sold at Tk. 60-80 per kilo. Apprehending the situation, the middlemen and unscrupulous traders of course got active in making money out of the farmers’ misfortune.

Although due to Government’s effective intervention by agricultural extension service, and agricultural research outcomes, Bangladesh agriculture has witnessed tremendous development in agriculture sectors. A few more drastic actions through ensuring good governance can ensure fair price for farmers’ agricultural products and can protect their economic interests.

(Prof. M Zahidul Haque retired Professor and also a former Dean of Faculty of Agriculture at Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka.)