Date cultivation becomes popular among Mymensingh farmers

A growing number of farmers in Bhaluka upazila of Mymensingh are starting date cultivation due to lucrative profits.

Many farmers have become wealthy by selling the saplings of date palm trees.

The first orchard of the Saudi Arabian variety of date palm fruit in Bhaluka was set up in 2001 and gradually expanded the number of orchards increased over time.

Abdul Motaleb of Paragao village in Harirbari union went to Saudi Arabia in 1998, where he worked in a date orchard and became skilled in date palm cultivation. Three years later, he returned home with 35kgs of different varieties of dates and in 2001 started date cultivation setting up an orchard near his home.

Motaleb said he has around 2,000 date trees in his orchard and each plant provides 250 kg of dates during the June-July season. He sells per kg Ajoa and Ambag variety of dates at Tk 2000, Sukari at Tk 1500 and Barki at TK 1500.

Last year, he sold dates worth Tk 6 lakh from his 120 plants, sold each sapling at Tk 500 to Tk 1000 and fruit producing plant at Tk 1 lakh. He made a huge profit by selling the saplings of date in the last two decades. This year he made Tk 25 lakh profit and is planning to buy more seeds for date cultivation.

Many people from Mastarbari of Bhaluka, Uttara and Banani of Dhaka, Chattogram and Manikganj buy

saplings of date. Some buy in large numbers for making new orchards, Motaleb said.

“We sell large numbers of saplings through agreements and also plant them in their orchard with my own hands. Most of them had satisfactory production but some failed to get fruits due to lack of care,” he said.

Saudi varieties of dates are extremely popular among buyers. Bangladesh use to import dates from different Middle East countries, Pakistan and India in the past, but now Saudi variety of dates are being cultivated in the country.

Witnessing Motaleb’s success, many others in the area also started farming Saudi variety of dates. Afaz Pathan is one of them who planted saplings of the date on two bighas of land in 2016. Currently, he has set up a date orchard on 10 bighas of land that contains 5,000 plants of 10 Saudi variety dates and another 5,000 saplings. He sells each seedling at Tk 2000 to Tk 25,000.

People used to think that date cannot be cultivated in all kinds of soil which has been proved wrong, Afaz said, adding, “I have sold a large number of saplings to buyers from Dhaka, Abdullahpur, Keraniganj, Sylhet, Nilphamari, Saidpur and other regions of the country. All the plants have produced fruits.”

Saidpur’s Era Garments’ owner Salauddin brought 100 seedlings and already received fruits from seven plants. He said, “Other trees will also produce fruit gradually.”

Another date farmer, Azizul Haque who also set up a date orchard on two acres of land, mostly sells saplings of date plants and makes satisfactory profits.

Deputy Director Md Motiur Rahman of the Department of Agricultural Extension in Mymensingh, said around 1000 varieties of date are available across the globe and among them, more than 400 varieties are cultivated in Saudi Arabia.

“Ajwa, Berhi, Samran, Jahedi, Marium, Anbarah, Asmaul Hasna, and Yaboni are popular date varieties in Bangladesh and among them, Ajwa, Berhi and Marium are largely cultivated,” he said.

The demand for date sapling is comparatively higher as plants grown from seeds lack adequate quality, he said, adding that the cultivation of date palm trees is on the rise in the red soil of Bhaluka.

“All kinds of advice will be provided by the Agricultural Extension Department if any farmers get inspired to cultivate dates”, he stated.