Home ›› 26 Oct 2021 ›› Nation
Arum lobe, or ‘Kochur Loti’ in local parlance, has turned into a boon for farmers in Joypurhat’s Sadar and Panchbibi upazilas.
The Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in the district fixed a target of cultivating the vegetable on 1,250 hectares of land this season. They said they had fixed the same amount last year and produced some 35,000 to 40,000 tonnes of the vegetable.
“We have sold 40 per cent of our production locally and exported the rest,” said Bablu Kumar Sutradhar, a training officer of DAE. He said the vegetable produced in different villages such as Keshappur, Paschim Balighata and Swichpara of the district has a great demand in the local and international market.
More farmers are opting for this crop as it is cost-effective. The cash crop is now a brand crop of Joypurhat, the DAE official said.
He mentioned that the soil and weather of Joypurhat were very much favourable for cultivating Bari Lotiraj-1, a variety developed by Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute (Bari).
A farmer named Amir Ali of Patabuka village in Panchbibi Upazila, started cultivating Bari Lotiraj-1 on a trial basis in 1991. The high yielding cost-effective crop is being massively grown in Dinajpur, Birampur, Naogaon and Jashore as it can be produced nearly all around the year, said DAE sources.
The largest market for arum lobe is Karwan Bazar in the capital. It is exported to at least 25 countries, including the USA, the UK, Australia, Canada, Germany, Denmark, and Sweden, said Choton, the lessee of Battali Haat (market) in Joypurhat.
DAE sources said taro is one of the finest sources of dietary fibre, which plays a vital role in protecting the digestive system, while the presence of an adequate amount of fibre in the vegetable helps maintain blood sugar levels. It can also help reduce high blood pressure, which is making it more popular among health enthusiasts.
Mizanur Rahman, a farmer from Panchbibi upazila, told The Business Post that they plant taro stolon twice a year, in the May-June and the November-December seasons.
“I cultivated the crop on two bighas. As I am getting a good profit from it, I will add in three more bighas for cultivating the vegetable,” he said.
Quoting DAE, Mizanur said they spend Tk 40,000 to Tk 45,000 to plant 3,500 to 3,600 arum saplings on a bigha of land, and they harvest the vegetable three months later.
“We get Tk 20 to Tk 30 selling a kilogramme of arum lobe and Tk 2 for a sapling. For 100 to 120 maunds of the vegetable, we get Tk 80,000 to Tk 1,00,000. We make a profit of Tk 50,000 to Tk 70,000 from one bigha,” the farmer said.
Babu, an arum trader, told The Business Post that there are 10 to 12 warehouses in the two upazilas of the district. “We process and package the vegetable and send it to different districts. We get a profit of Tk 1 to Tk 2 for a kg of the vegetable,” said Babu.
