Soybean farming
Sowing soybean in December-January on land left free after aman and harvesting in May. Lakshmipur grows 70-80 percent of the national crop, and oil and feed mills are the guaranteed buyer.
- Last reviewed: 19 September 2026
- Version 1
- Starting capital
- ৳17,000 – ৳1,00,000 Editorial estimate
- Manpower
- 1 – 5 people
- First sale
- 130 – 150 days Official source
- Break-even
- 5 – 15 months Editorial estimate
- Kind of work
- Farm · Easy
What the business is
Sowing soybean in December and January on the land that used to lie empty after the aman harvest, and bringing it home in May. Lakshmipur is called Soyaland; agriculture officers put 70 to 80 percent of the country's soybean in this one district. In the 2025-26 season 45,065 hectares were sown with an expected 90,130 tonnes worth about Tk 450 crore. It is grown in Sadar, Raipur, Ramgati and Kamalnagar upazilas, above all on the chars that have risen out of the Meghna. The soil here is loam and a single ploughing prepares it. Being a legume it needs little fertiliser and no weeding, one or two sprays once the plant is up, and the crop is home within 130 days of germination - less cost and less labour than paddy. The buyer is not a worry: the country's edible oil and poultry feed manufacturers take this crop. Haidarganj bazar in Raipur alone has 45 to 50 arats and ten drying yards, with twenty more arats at nearby Khaserhat and Mollarhat, and buyers crowd in through April and May. The one real danger is the nor'wester. Rain at harvest and water standing in the field can destroy half the crop, and most years it happens to somebody.
Unit economics
| Item | Range | Evidence | Suggest a correction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly working capital | ৳5,000 – ৳40,000 | Editorial estimate | |
| Selling price | ৳38 – ৳50 / kg | Editorial estimate | |
| Variable cost | ৳10 – ৳21 / kg | Editorial estimate | |
| Gross margin | 45% – 76% | Editorial estimate | |
| Time to first revenue | 130 – 150 days | Official source | |
| Break-even time | 5 – 15 months | Editorial estimate | |
| Cash cycle | 130 – 165 days | Editorial estimate | |
| Waste / loss | 0% – 50% | Editorial estimate | |
| Daily capacity | 3.3 – 29 | Editorial estimate |
What you need to start
- A plough or power tiller (one pass is enough), a pesticide sprayer, sickles for cutting, and an open yard or drying floor.Equipment
- Soybean seed. The best of the season's crop is kept back as next year's seed, and seed production is itself a large business in Lakshmipur.Starting stock
- Trade licence from the union parishad or municipality. Not needed to sell your own crop, but needed to trade seed or soybean or to run an arat. Form Tk 10, licence book Tk 50, standard tax Tk 30, stamp Tk 150-300, licence fee Tk 100-60,000.Licence
- Little, and that is the crop's great advantage. Land preparation is simple, there is no weeding and fertiliser is light. The two skills that matter are sowing on time and cutting on time.Skill
- The upazila agriculture office for advice and seed, and the arotdars of Haidarganj, Khaserhat and Mollarhat in Raipur, who buy and pass it on to the oil and feed mills.Supplier
- High loam land left free after the aman harvest, above all the chars risen out of the Meghna. If the land is not yours, settle the sharecropping or lease terms first; the sharecropper's share is not in this page's costings.Workspace
How the work runs
- 1Pick your land as soon as the aman paddy is cut. The Meghna chars and loam soil are best; one ploughing makes this soil ready for soybean.
- 2Check that the land is high and drains. Where rainwater stands at harvest time, half the crop is lost.
- 3Sow between December and January. Sow late and you will be harvesting in the nor'westers, which is exactly what happened in 2026.
- 4Get good seed. In Lakshmipur the best of the season's crop is kept back as seed and a separate seed trade has grown up; check the variety and seed rate with the upazila agriculture office.
- 5Go light on fertiliser. Soybean is a legume and needs very little, which is why it costs far less than paddy.
- 6No weeding is needed. One or two pesticide sprays once the plant is up is enough, and disease and pest pressure are relatively low.
- 7Be ready to cut at 130 days from germination, watch the weather and get it off the field as fast as you can. Agriculture officers advise quick harvesting every year.
- 8Dry it properly after cutting. Damp soybean gets no price at the arat and spoils in store.
- 9Take it to Haidarganj bazar in Raipur, which has 45 to 50 arats and ten drying yards, with twenty more arats at nearby Khaserhat and Mollarhat. Buyers are thickest there in April and May.
- 10Keep in touch with the buying agents of the edible oil and poultry feed mills. Those two are the big buyers, and selling to them direct rather than through an arotdar can fetch more.
- 11Write down the cost per acre and the yield in maunds every season. Get the yield wrong and every other number is wrong; that book is next year's foundation.
Seasons
- JanHigh
- FebNormal
- MarNormal
- AprHigh
- MayHigh
- JunHigh
- JulLow
- AugLow
- SepLow
- OctLow
- NovNormal
- DecHigh
Where it fits
- Strong fitLakshmipur · The national soybean capital, nicknamed Soyaland. In 2025-26 it sowed 45,065 hectares for an expected 90,130 tonnes, in Sadar, Raipur, Ramgati and Kamalnagar upazilas and above all on the Meghna chars of Indurira, Jalia, Ghasia, Kachia and Kanibaga. Haidarganj bazar in Raipur alone has 45-50 arats and ten drying yards.
- PossibleBhola · A Meghna char district with land much like Lakshmipur's. No separate cultivation figures were found.
- PossibleChandpur · It has Meghna banks and chars and easy access to mills in Dhaka and Chattogram. No separate cultivation figures were found.
- PossibleChattogram · Not the growing end but the buying end: much of the edible oil and poultry feed milling sits here and Lakshmipur is close by road.
- PossibleDhaka · The buying departments of the country's big edible oil and feed manufacturers are here, and direct-sale negotiations run from Dhaka.
- PossibleNoakhali · It adjoins Lakshmipur in the same Meghna coastal loam belt with the same pattern of land lying free after aman. No separate acreage figures were found here; the case rests on soil and proximity.
- Weak fitFeni · Next to Lakshmipur and Noakhali, but no soybean cultivation was documented here; nobody should start without testing the soil.
Risks and cautions
- HighSpoilage: The nor'wester. Rain at harvest with water standing in the field destroys half the crop - that is what Lakshmipur farmers said in June 2026, adding that 'this rain has to be faced every year'. When it happens, even covering the cost becomes hard, and sowing late makes it worse.
- MediumDemand: The buyer is certain but the buyers are few. Edible oil and poultry feed mills between them take the whole crop. A downturn in poultry or cheap imported oil pulls the price down, and the farmer has no alternative market.
- MediumWorking capital: Money goes in in December and comes back in May, so it is tied up for five months. Getting one and a half acres to harvest costs about Tk 25,000. Household money has to be kept separate over that period, or the crop gets sold early and cheap.
- MediumDependency: If the land is not yours, a large part of the profit goes. The costings on this page carry no land rent or sharecropper's share, yet much of the char land is sharecropped. 'Low capital, high profit' is far truer for the landowner than for the bargadar.
- MediumOther: The yield figures diverge sharply. The DAE district average works out at 2 tonnes a hectare, while one farmer expected 70 maunds - about 2,612 kg - off one and a half acres, more than double that. Budgeting without knowing your own field's real yield will give you the wrong profit.
Sources
সিটি কর্পোরেশন থেকে ট্রেড লাইসেন্স প্রাপ্তির ধাপ সমূহ
Collected: 16 Sept 2026Supports: Starting capital · বাংলাদেশ
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