Banana business witnesses boom in Chhath

By Our Correspondent

Inaruwa, Nov. 6: With the beginning of the Chhath festival, the business of bananas has increased significantly in Sunsari. 

Banana is used as a mandatory puja prasad ingredient in Chhath.

Due to the high demand for bananas during Chhath, the price of bananas at different local levels, including, Inaruwa, the district headquarters, has increased threefold compared to their prices in other seasons.  Bananas, which are highly sold for the Chhath festival, are being sold this year for Rs. 15 per piece and Rs. 500 to Rs. 1,500 per bunch. 

Consumers said that they had to buy bananas at a higher price this year than last year.

They said that they bought a piece of banana at Rs. 5 and a bunch of bananas from Rs. 150 to Rs. 500 during Chhath last year.

Bhola Yadav of Inaruwa Municipality- 9 said that consumers had to buy a bunch of bananas at Rs. 1,500 this year while they bought a bunch of bananas at Rs.  500 in the Chhath of last year.

Dipesh Gupta of Inaruwa Municiplaity-10 complained that he had never bought bananas at such a high price.

Agricultural technician Bhubaneshwar Yadav said that although the consumers had faced problems due to the increase in the price of bananas, the farmers were very happy. 

Shyam Yadav, a farmer of Inaruwa, said that farmers could not get good prices for bananas at other times, but during the Chhath festival, the demand for bananas was high, so they sold them at higher prices.

Ramesh Mehata, a banana trader, said that there was a shortage of bananas in the market because consumers had to buy bananas two to four days before the start of the Chhath festival.

He said that bananas were not imported from India during Chhath this year which led to shortage and price hikes of banana.

Traders claimed more than 100,000 bunches of bananas would be consumed in Sunsari alone.