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Panchagarh growers leaning towards lotkon

Quamrul Islam Rubaiyat, Thakurgaon
Mouth-watering fruit Burmese grape, commonly known as lotkon, is gaining popularity among growers in Panchagarh.
Rising demand coupled with good selling price and high yield are drawing most growers to invest in the fruit for commercial production in recent times.
Most growers are also taking interest in Burmese grape because its plant grows on higher land where other cash crops do not grow well. Many of them now find it more profitable to grow Burmese grape in betelnut orchards on such fallow land.
Much to the delight of the growers, the commercially produced larger, tastier and bright-coloured variety of Burmese grape, especially from Panchagarh, is now in high demand across the country.
Abu Hanif, deputy director of Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in Panchagarh, said Burmese grape is being cultivated on nearly 35 hectares of land in betelnut orchards in the district this year.
The fruit is being cultivated on 28 hectares of land in Panchagarh Sadar alone, while on 7 hectares in other four upazilas of the district, he said, adding that climate condition in Panchagarh is favourable for Burmese grape, a fruit that contains higher nutritional value than most other common fruits grown in the region.
More and more people, who have betelnut orchards around their homesteads, are finding it attractive to grow Burmese grape alongside the betelnut trees after witnessing success of others and because the fruit tree grows well without much space.
Initially, around 200 saplings of Burmese grape can be planted on 30 to 35 decimals of land. After reaching maturity, a tree usually produces more than 40 kilograms of fruit, the DAE official also said.
During a recent visit to Panimachpukuri, Haribhasa and Boleyapara villages in Sadar upazila and Bhaulaganj Tistapara village in Debiganj upazila of Panchagarh, the areas were found abuzz with growers harvesting the fruit. Buyers from faraway places were also busy
packing the fruits for transport.
Hasan Ali, a fruit trader from Panimachpukuri village, said “Lotkon produced in Panchagarh has a high demand in other parts of the country for its good taste, size and colour."
He also said he paid Tk 5 lakh for harvesting the fruit from 1,000 trees in different villages and spent and additional Tk 1.20 lakh to nurture the trees. He hoped to make Tk 2 lakh profit from selling Burmese grape this season.
Currently, fruit traders are paying Tk 50 to growers for each kg of the fruit. Its retail price is now more or lessTk 100 per kg.
Another grower, Gokul Chandra Roy, said he planted 70 Burmese grape saplings in his betelnut orchard about two decades ago in Bhaulaganj Tistapara village of Debiganj upazila. After the trees matured this year, he earned Tk 2 lakh from the sale of the fruit.
The older the tree gets, the more profitable it becomes for the grower as a matured tree does not need as much care as opposed to the care it needs during the earlier stage, he also said.