Fakhrul Islam, a Singapore expatriate, became interested after watching Malta farming on social media Face book and YouTube.
At the beginning of 2017, two brothers Fakhrul and Sakhawat from Jalalpur in Katiadi started cultivating Malta as a hobby in the 31 decimal lands. Malta began to bear fruit just two and a half years after cultivation. Now he is dreaming of earning money by selling Malta.
Meanwhile, they said that the Upazila Agriculture Department has come forward with overall cooperation starting from motivation.
According to the Upazila Agriculture Department, Malta has been cultivated on 15 bighas of land in Katiadi Upazila. Farmers are also becoming more and more interested in cultivating Malta as it is more profitable in a short period of time. Due to the constant motivation of the farmers, the farmers of this region are gradually inclined to cultivate the newly invented Bari Malta-1.
As a result, Bari Malta-1 is becoming popular. This crop starts to bear fruit only 2-3 years after planting. According to the local agriculture department, the trees have been bearing fruit for about 20 years.
It has been seen on the spot that Bari Malta-1 has been planted on the 31 decimal land of Sakhawat Hossain in Uttar Charpukkia village of Jalalpur union. Visitors are constantly flocking there to see the Malta Gardens.
About one and a half hundred saplings were planted in this garden in collaboration with the local agriculture office. The Malta tree flowers in March-April this year. Now Malta has begun to rot. Farmers say that this Malta, which is completely free of formalin, is very tasty.
Malta farmer Sakhawat Hossain Fulu said, ‘After watching the video on YouTube, he became interested in Malta farming. Later, on the advice of the Agriculture Office, I was inspired to cultivate Malta. And they have helped me in many ways. The age of the garden is about two and a half years. Out of more than 150 seedlings, more than 130 seedlings are harvested here. So far it has cost 30-35 thousand taka to make the garden. According to the first harvest this year, this farmer is expecting to sell 70-80 thousand taka. Besides, he expressed his gratitude to everyone including Upazila Agriculture Officer Mukshedul Haque.
Upazila Agriculture Officer Mukshedul Haque said, ‘Current agriculture is commercial agriculture. Like Sakhawat, 10 more entrepreneurs have set up Malta Gardens on 15 bighas of land.
The soil here is quite suitable for Malta cultivation. We are motivating farmers to cultivate Malta. Gradually the extent of Malta cultivation in the upazila is increasing. He assured that the Malta farmers would always cooperate with the Upazila Agriculture Office, adding that the region could be exported outside the country by meeting the demand of Malta in the future.
