“Potentialities of major fruits farming, marketing system and price behaviour in hill regions of Bangladesh” (A) Executive Summary of Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) and Baseline Survey Most of the hilly areas are very much undulated, unexplored and remain fallow. Proper planning is needed for bringing the hilly areas under cultivation by growing different fruits. Chittagong Hill Tracts is considered as the most dis-advantaged and vulnerable regions of the country in terms of different major developments indicators as income, employment, poverty, health, water, sanitation, education, access to infrastructure etc. The study was conducted with a view to generate benchmark information for fruits farming at different hill regions, marketing system, price variations, and future fruits production potentialities, future demand for both domestic and international markets for increasing income and employment in hill regions of Bangladesh. Step 1: Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) is the appropriate technique by which we can understand a new situation in a short period of time about agro-economic and social research for development. PRA technique was applied in eight villages of eight upazilas under four districts considering accessible and less accessible areas. The highlights of the findings are as follows: There are about 18 different ethnic minorities, among them majority live in the CHT region of Bangladesh. The literacy rate of chakma group was the highest (38%) among the different tribal groups. Different NGOs like CCDB, UNDP, BRAC & GB has been playing an important role by providing different inputs and credit to the farmers for the socio-economic development activities in the hilly regions. High price variation was found during peak and lean harvesting period for both inputs and major fruits like banana, pineapple, orange, mango, jackfruit & litchi in different locations. Most of the farmers used local varieties for different fruit cultivation. Poor production practices were followed by the farmers. As a result yield level for different fruits was not satisfactory. Return per taka invested was found encouraging for most of the fruits cultivation in hilly areas. Severe attacks of insects and pests were found which caused about 20-30% of the total yield loss for different fruits production. Usually different fruit gardens are sold 1-3 times before harvesting specially for mango and litchi orchard. Some owners usually sell their orchard garden to a first party at the stage of fruit bearing due to financial hardship. More than 80% fruits were sold in the local market. Transportation cost was the major marketing cost items at growers’ level. Due to the perishability of nature and lack of storage facility the farmers sold their products at very low cost even it do not incurred the cost of production of the farmer. Step 2: After conducting PRA and baseline surveys, the households level data on production, marketing, prices for different fruits were collected during January to December 2011 and 2012 for each crop season with the help of a structured interview schedule. Step 3: In addition to the household level data, some community level information for qualitative exercises such as focus group discussions (FGD), discussion with community leaders, stakeholders and consultation meetings with the knowledgeable and influencial people of CHT have been conducted to get deeper insights into the relevant issues. The quantitative data were collected through focus group discussions (FGD) during the completion of every successive crop season of 2011 and 2012 for different fruits cultivation. (B) The partial present output of the research project are discussed as follows: As many as 17 different ethnic minorities (indigenous people) were found and majority of them live in the CHT of Bangladesh. As regards of total population 34% were under Bengalis, remaining 66% population were under tribal groups. Among the tribal groups: Chakma, Tripura, Marma and Bom constituted about more than 50% of total population. The survey results indicate that the people of hilly areas are mostly illiterate (55%), a portion of them can sign their name only. The overall literacy rate in hill regions are estimated at about 45% in compare with the national average of 58.4%. The average family members were 5.42 persons per family (national average being 4.85). Large family size and more dependent members are responsible for survival of the family as well as for over exploitation of natural resources. Though the agriculture is the major (67%) income generating component but it contributed only about 36% of the total income. It means that the poor performance of farm related activities with seasonal unemployment over the year were prevailed in the hilly areas.Twenty eight per cent of the CHT comprises high hills, 22% medium high hills, 31% low hills and the remaining 19% is valley land. The average cropping intensity of hilly areas was 153% with the highest cropping intensity at Khagrachari (189%) and the lowest at Bandarban (131%) with an national average of cropping intensity 181%. It was estimated that the average farm size was 3.89 ha/farm and the average fruit garden was estimated to be 2.50 ha/farm, which was about 64% of total land area in all locations for fruit cultivation. The average per capita income (Tk 45420/annum)of the hill areas were lower than those of per capita income of national average Tk 57652/annum. Local varieties and poor production practices were followed by the farmers. As a result yield level for different fruits was not satisfactory. Farmers obtained 57%, 60% and 71% less yield for pineapple, banana and orange cultivation in compare to the research managed yield in the study areas. The use of human labour, fertilizers and management practices had significantly influenced upon better yield in all most all study areas. Farmers in hilly areas are very much reluctant to fruits production due to their ignorance and lack of modern technical knowledge. In this respect, awareness of the farmers should be developed through providing training for proper utilization of these input factors (like human labour for different operational activities, proper fertilizer doses, rate of seedling/succkers, weedings, insecticide application etc) for optimum yield. It is evident that for banana cultivation most of inputs factor were found to be insignificant for different locations as a result, more care should be taken for recommended level of input use for its higher production. The partial project analysis indicated that BCR is greater than one, NPV is positive and IRR is greater than opportunity cost of capital for all fruits cultivation. BCR, NPV and IRR indicate that for all fruits cultivation, it is highly profitable for the farmers of the study areas. Sensitivity analysis also indicates that fruits cultivation can earn profit under changing situation. Price variation of marketing cost was observed 21-25% high in less accessible area than those of accessible areas. Scarcity of ground water, storage facilities, transportation facilities, lack of agro processing industries were identified as the major constraints in the hill areas of Bangladesh.