Lac is a natural resin produced by an insect, Laccifer Lacca, a parasite of certain host trees. Poor people have undertaken lac cultivation at the initiative of a research organisation, Research Initiatives Bangladesh.

Lac is usually harvested during monga when poor people have no job for survival.

Nearly 500 destitute people at Sadar and Jaldhaka upazilas survived by cultivating and selling lac during the previous lean season.

Matiur Rahman, a researcher at the Research Initiatives Bangladesh said lac resin is widely used in industries like food processing, leather, textile, pharmaceutical, perfumary, adhesive, food and beverage and other industries. It is also used for shining shoes, house floors and cars.

Rahman said poor people are cultivating lac in several host trees like Boroi (plum), Akashmoni, Paikor, Dumur and some other fruits. It does not require any land and the investment is very little. For this reason, poor people have been showing keen interest in lac cultivation more and more, he said.

Jannatun Nessa, a widow at Hobutari village in Sadar upazil said during monga it was her regular practice to borrow money at higher interest rate for survival of her six-member family. But her earnings rose upto over Tk 2,500 by cultivating lac during lean period. The scourge of monga no longer haunts her family now, she said.

Like Jannatun, many lack growers earn between Tk 2,000 to 2,500 during monga by investing only between Tk 200 to 250.

Even, many lac growers have become rich by doing its business. They buy raw lac from local farmers and sell it to major parties in Dhaka, Rajshahi and Chapainawabganj.

Lac farmers shared their experiences and narrated their success stories at a mass gathering at a fair held at Shishatali bazaar in Sadar upazila recently.

At another meeting with lac farmers, the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) deputy director Shakhwat Hossain has announced that lac farming has given a new dimension to destitute people in combating monga successfully.

Luxmichapa Union Parishad (UP) chairman Shyam Charan Roy presided over the meeting.

RIB executive director Meghna Guha Thakurata said lac cultivation has proved to be an effective means to fight monga.