Small and big cashew nut orchards can be seen along the road in Thanchi upazila, 80 km away from the district town of Bandarban. The locals say these as nuts, some say these are cashew nuts. Red, yellow ripe cashew nuts can be seen hanging in brunches of trees. Most of the farmers in Thanchi upazila have started collecting cashew nuts and marketing these to buyers across the country. Even foreign customers are interested to buy cashew nut for commercial purpose. The prices of this fruits are also getting better. The hill people are now interested in cultivating permanent orchards than zoom farming.
Fosa U Marma, 61, a resident of Vidyamani Para in Thanchi Upazila’s Bolipara Union, said at one time he used to make a living by cultivating only seasonal crops at hillside lands. Now that the zoom area is shrinking day by day, the hill people are leaning towards permanent orchards.
Banana, mango, plum, cashew nuts are well produced on the hill. So, out of curiosity he planted cashew nuts on five acres 11/12 years ago and the crop came in 4 years. Once, cashew nuts got rotten, as there was no one interested in this fruit.
Now the days have changed. The people of multiple companies have been coming to Thanchi for collecting cashew nuts. Last year, he sold 50 mounds of cashew nuts at Tk 3,000 per mounds, four years ago he used to sell cashew nuts at Tk 5,000 to 6,000 per mound. This year, he got 80 mounds of cashew nuts and sold them in the market for 3500 Tk per mound.
Fosa U Marma thinks that if the trees could be watered properly, the yield would be a little higher. He said that there are 15-16 orchards in Vidyamani Para like Ufo Sa Marma and all of them are benefiting more or less. Last year he got 35 mounds but the price was low due to corona, then he sold it at three thousand rupees per mane, he added.
Let them know.Karnajoy, a resident of Bagan Para in Tripura Boli Para Union, has only 200 cashew nut trees. This year's yield has been good. There are 10 family garden farmers in their neighborhood. He added that cashew nuts are now popular in the area, farmers are dreaming of economic prosperity in cashew nuts, now it is better to get a fair price for cashew nuts, and it would be great to get water and irrigation assistance from the government in the dry season. Rambo Tripura, field coordinator of Bangladesh Agriculture Products Limited, said that he was buying cashew nuts from farmers at Tk 3300 per mound.
According to the Bandarban Agriculture Office, there are two thousand eight hundred and forty two cashew farmers in seven upazilas, a total of one thousand eight hundred and thirty seven hectares of cashew is being cultivated. In the last 2019-2020 financial year, 1,212 metric tons were produced. One thousand three hundred and twenty three metric tons of almond production target has been set for the current 2020-21 financial year. The production target is 1.31 metric tonnes per hectare. The 1st and 2nd exhibition plots from Bandarban District Agriculture Extension Department have 708 plots and the general farmer has more than 490,000 fruit trees. More than 4 lakh trees are waiting to bear fruit.
Almond saplings are produced and marketed at government as well as private level. Md. Zafar Iqbal, manager of LAAgro Company in Bandarban Sadar Upazila Sualak Union said that they supply M23 cashew nut seedlings of world advanced variety from their nursery to the Ministry of Agriculture at Tk 150 per piece and are selling common cashew nuts to farmers.
He said that 1 lakh saplings were sold last year.
Deputy Director of Bandarban Agricultural Extension Department Md. Rafiqul Islam said that Almond cultivation is increasing day by day in Bandarban Hill District.
The Department of Agricultural Extension is providing comprehensive advice to the farmers including fertilizers and agricultural inputs. Gives good yield in 3-5 years after planting. The disease is less. He said that the soil of Bandarban Hill is very suitable for cultivation of almonds and coffee.
