MANIKGANJ, May 8, 2025 (BSS) - The green chili cultivators are happy with the production and reasonable price of their product in the district during the current season.

The harvesting of chili in the district is going on in full swing and is appearing at the local markets to a great extent.

Now, per kilogram chili is being sold at Taka 50/60 at the local markets and the wholesale rate is Taka 40/45 per kilogram.

The cultivators of Ghior and Shibalaya upazila of the district sell their green chili at the Banangail and Uthuli bazaar and the cultivators of Harirampur sell their product at Jhitka, Bathoimuri, Balla and Sarupai bazaar to the retailers.

The Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) sources said that after onion, green chili is the most important cash crop for the cultivators of Harirampur, Shibalaya and Ghior upazila of the district, as it grows in those upazilas of the district on a large scale.

A large number of wholesalers and retailers come to the areas to collect the green chili from the cultivators regularly.

Hundreds of trucks run in the areas to collect the green chili and go to the different places in the country to supply it. Hundreds of labourers mainly women are engaged in harvesting the green chili from the field.

Abidur Alam, 50, one of the green pepper traders said every day a group of traders visit the local markets and buy green chili from their godown for supplying different parts of the country. He said five to six people work every day in his shop.

Mahbub Ali, 36, another cultivator, said they have been cultivating green chili in their lands from generation to generation.

Akkas Ali, one of the green chili traders said the green pepper of Manikganj has been exported to some countries in Europe and the Middle East and its markets are being widened day by day.

The DAE office sources said they set a target of green chili cultivation on 3,717 hectares in the district with a production target 3,700 metric tons of green chili during the current season, adding that the fixed target has been exceeded. Green chili was cultivated on 3,825 hectares of land exceeding 108 hectares more than the target.

Deputy Director of DAE Dr. Robia Noor Ahmed said the soil of Manikganj district specially, Harirampur, Shibalaya and Ghior are suitable for green chili cultivation adding that the quality of the green pepper of the district is better than other districts of the country and it has a great demand in the markets.