Hog plum yield aplenty in Pirojpur
Growers and wholesalers of hog plum, locally known as amra, are passing a busy time with plucking, selling and buying the popular fruit during the ongoing peak season.
This nutritious fruit grows aplenty in Kawkhali, Nesarabad, Nazirpur and Pirojpur Sadar upazilas under the district.
Flowers appear in the trees in the Bangla months of Magh and Falgun (mid-January to mid-February) and the fruit is plucked from Ashar to Ashwin (mid-June to mid-September).
This year's amra yield is higher than last year's, said Mizanur Rahman, a grower of Kawkhali upazila.
Farmers said they sell a sack containing around 1500 pieces of amra for Tk 800-900 to the local wholesale buyers and they sell each sack for Tk 1400-1500 to those who bring it to Dhaka and sell for Tk 1800-2000 in the wholesale market there.
It is also sent to other areas of the country including Chittagong and Sylhet by trucks.
“It costs around Tk 200 to transport each sack of amra from Kawkhali to Dhaka,” said Jahangir Hossain, a wholesale buyer at Kawkhali launch terminal market.
Farmers alleged that most of the profit goes to the middlemen as the fruit is sold three to four times.
Cultivation of amra, its plucking, trade and transport also create job opportunity for hundreds of people in the four upazilas.
The trees are planted beside the roads or in orchards.
After planting the trees, flowers appear within five years and 200-300 kg of fruit can be collected from a mature tree every season.
This fruit, which is rich in Vitamin C, calcium, carotene, sugar and iron, can be naturally preserved for around two weeks.
Most of the growers sell the season's fruit of each garden to wholesalers in advance and the latter get high profit by selling it from there.
According to Department of Agriculture Extension in Pirojpur, there are amra orchards on 513 hectares of land in the district.
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