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Boon of orange farming in Panchagarh

Farmers of the extreme northern district produce oranges aplenty but are still in need of technical support

Shykh Seraj
I recently visited Bamonpara, situated in Bangladesh's streme northern district, Panchagarh, under Panchagarh Sadar. You've heard a lot about Tetulia, which is nearby. The mature of Panchagarh is different than any other regions of Bangladesh. Farmers grow tea, orange, betel nut and other :ash crops here. The Panchagarh we used to know twenty five years back has come out of poverty. Orange cultivation aimed out to be a blessing for the people of this region. In :oday's article, I am specifically going to elaborate on the arange development project of Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE).
Farmers were inspired to grow orange and as a result, here are around 300 orange orchards here. You'd probably remember the time when I brought images of successful grange farmers of Moulvibazar's Juri to the limelight, □range cultivation is spreading. As this is true, there are many stories of obstacles in the advancement of such a success. As the government project is over, the orange cultivation extension is not moving onward in the pace that it should.
The consumers also have an inclination to not buy aome-grown oranges, and prefer foreign products. Government assistance is urgent to resolve many issues. Government should help farmers so that Bangladeshi manges flood the market with pride. Likewise, we can easily disregard imported fruits since we already have homegrown varieties. It is really surprising to see orange orchards an plain lands, located in Panchagarh, situated at the extreme north of Bangladesh. It seems to us that we've mis-akenly came to the orange mountains situated in Vloulvibazar's Juri upazila. Here in Panchagarh, people lave orange orchards in their home-yards, not in the moun-ains.
I met a farmer named Salahuddin. He's from Borobari md has been associated with orange cultivation for a long arne. He took me to his new orange orchard.
"How many orange plants are here?”
"More than four hundred."
“What's your profession apart from farming?”
"I'm an Assistant Professor teaching at a college."
This graduate from Dhaka University's sociology department has truly devoted himself to orange cultivation.
Oranges love to grow under shades. The betel-nut is aroviding a lot of care to it. Even for the lotkon (Burmese ’rape) trees, shade is an ideal natural input. We've spotted otkon trees growing in comfort at this region also. Khashia ?aan (Betel-leaf) is climbing up the trees with ease. However, from a commercial perspective, oranges are far thead compared to these other crops.
“There are many complaints that Bangladeshi oranges ire not sweet. Is this true?" I asked Salahuddin.
"People have very little idea on Bangladeshi oranges", replied Salahuddin.
"I have around 4000 oranges here and you can taste one ay yourself", he added.
I tried one and it was really juicy and very sweet indeed. Salahuddin earns Tk. 40,000 from 4,000 oranges from one single plant. This is really impressive! The orange tree seemed to be to be a money tree!
This is how orange orchards have spread across Panchagarh district- and it's like a silent revolution. Many
people started off with the venture of orange orchards in the region, looking at its immense potential. But, at one point many doubts appeared. After intense research, DAE found the perfect rate of acid in soil; yearly rainfall and the overall climate were perfect too for oranges to grow in Panchagarh.
Then the DAE began a project focused on development of orange cultivation. The project covered districts like Panchagarh, Tangail, Mymensingh, Gazipur and Bandarban. Panchagarh ranked at the top in respect of possibilities. In 2006, a five-year project was initiated. To materialize the project, 540 farmers were trained to grow orange in Panchagarh Sadar, Tetulia, Atoari, and Boda upazilas. 4,888 orange plants were sown as part of the project's activity. Taking advantage of the technical assistance facility, more than three hundred orchards grew with high potential. However, when the project ended, farmers faced various crises. Pradhan started his orchard in 2002, four years before the government project had started. The entrepreneur informs they came close to great achievements, but now they face many difficulties.
"We got really good advices and found the right direction
from the project but now we are on our own. There is no one to guide us", said Pradhan. "They used to give a medicine called silver-mix which helped the oranges grow bigger and made them sweet. Now, farmers are not getting that facility."
"You can't buy it from the market?"
"No, it comes from abroad and we used to get it for free from the government project."
Local farmers and entrepreneurs started their orchards with high expectations. Many young people didn't hunt jobs but wanted these orange orchards to be their safe and profitable workplace. Sarwer from Katunhari village in Boda upazila is one of those young entrepreneurs.
Sarwer shared his thoughts with me.
"How many orange plants do you have here in your orchard?"
"Three hundred. I invested aroundTk. 3 lakh.”
"Could you make profit after this invest?”
"Yes, I'm running fully on profits."
Narayan Chandra Jha from Jatanpukuri village in Panchagarh Sadar is one of those entrepreneurs who built orange orchards during the government project. On 12
acres of land, Narayan has 300 orange trees. Most of these trees planted in 2009 are now full of juicy fruits. The green-yellowish oranges were shining on the sun. Stems were bent with the wright of lots of oranges.
Almost all the people in the region now well understand what the real essence of orange cultivation is. Many know the taste of the home-grown oranges. Narayan's orchard is really huge. He is concentrating more on oranges than any other crops planted on his 12 acres of land. He wishes for the orange development project to start again as farmers' need more technical support and agricultural inputs.
Farmers are marketing the oranges quite professionally. They pluck the oranges from the trees and directly sell it to the wholesalers. The wholesalers are also happy to sell the home-grown oranges. We spoke to the wholesalers regarding many issues.
"How do you buy from the farmers?"
"I take it on KGs."
"Not single pieces... ?"
"No."
"Farmers were saying per orange price isTk. 10."
"Yes, that is the unit price it comes to when I buy per KG. I pay them Tk. 80 per KG. There are eight oranges in one KG, sometimes nine, but on average it's mostly eight."
If the farmers had received the right advice and technical information, there could have been at least another three hundred orchards in the region. But, keeping these orchards alive has become a recent problem.
After seven years, we're hearing that risks are rising in regard to orange cultivations in Panchagarh. Doubts have spread among the farmers of Moulvibazar and Bandarban since the farmers are not getting assistance. I learned more about this from Anwar Hossain who has vast experience on orange cultivation. Few years back, he retired from his government service. "As per the regulations of the project, farmers will get support during the project, but not after it. Farmers have to learn everything when the projects are on the field. Afterwards, they'll have to solve their own problems", said Mr. Hossain. DAE has taken a new project in hand last year, known as 'Citrus Development Project'. I spoke to agriculturist Keshob Laal Dash, who doesn't agree with the crisis that Panchagarh farmers are facing. "If you call it crisis, I don't agree. It's not actually a crisis. We’ve just started another project which will also try to solve the problems of the past project" said Mr. Keshob. He's very hopeful that problems faced by farmers will be overcome.
I believe that the government will take immediate measures to keep the orange revolution alive in Panchagarh. There is no doubt that this Vitamin C-rich fruit has great demand and is precious in ensuring livelihoods of thousands. Round the year, the imported oranges secure most of our markets. We can easily come out of this dependence on import.