Home ›› 23 Jan 2022 ›› Nation
Commercial cultivation of Darjeeling variety orange has gained popularity among the farmers of Thakurgaon as its cultivation has been proven more profitable compared to many other traditional fruits.
Acidic soil and climate condition make the land in northern region suitable for orange and tangerine cultivation as the area is near the Indian districts of Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri, where high quality oranges have been growing for decades, said Abu Hossain, Deputy Director of Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE).
According to DAE sources, 130 hectares of land have been brought under the orange cultivation this year in the district. During a recent visit, The Business Post found orchards covered profusely with ripe oranges.
Abu Jahid Ibnul Iram Juwel, a farmer at Malonchagram village under Pirganj upazila of the district, achieved success by cultivating the Darjeeling variety of orange in his orchard that inspired many farmers to lean towards the orange cultivation.
Hundreds of people from different parts of the country gather daily at the orchard of Juwel to see his success as the picture with ripe oranges went viral on social media a few days ago.
Juwel said he started a plantation of this variety on his three bighas land in 2012 after buying saplings from the Horticulture department. The plants grew up and began to bear the fruits in the three years of the plantation.
Though the orchard was ten years old, he has been getting better yields since the last three years.
Meanwhile, he has extended the orchard areas. He sold this variety of fruits for Tk 7,00,000 last year. He got bumper yield this year and started selling oranges from the orchard.
Juwel hopes that he will get at least 250 maunds of orange worth around Tk 20,00,000. He is also expecting to sell grafted saplings for at least Tk 2,00,000.
Traders come to his orchard and buy the variety. He has been selling the orange since last November at Tk 180-200 per kilogramme. His net sales stood at Tk 15,00,000 since last December.
The variety has a huge demand in the local market as the taste and color of the variety are very fascinating. He received orders from the traders of Dhaka.
He also said ten employees are working in the orchard for nursing the plants. Each of the plants can bear fruits for around fifteen years.
Salam Miah, a local fruit trader who came to the orchard to buy fruit, said, “The variety has got huge demand in the local market as it is as good as the Darjeeling variety in terms of size, taste and color.
A farmer at Haripur upazila of the district, Abul Kashem said he received training on orange farming from the Upazila Agriculture Extension Office. He planted grafted orange saplings in his one bigha land.
Cultivation of this variety has been increasing gradually in the district as it proved profitable. The farming should be expanded all over the country to meet the nutritional demand as well as reduce the import dependability, said Abu Hossain.
“We are encouraging the farmers to develop the variety. The department has undertaken a project in the Dinajpur region called ‘Citrus extension development and Management’ to train farmers and increase the orange variety’s cultivation in three districts – Dinajpur, Thakurgaon and Panchagarh,” he added.
