A coconut kingdom

Suitable weather for coconut cultivation has brought smiles to the farmers of Bagerhat, a district famous for the fruit.

Almost all the farmer in the district owns 30 to 300 coconut trees, said local people.

Afzal Hossain, a farmer of Khutakhai in Kachua, said he is selling each green coconut for Tk 12 to Tk 16 based on its size to local traders without any investment.

 “Continuous collecting of green coconut makes our trees clean which draws away the rats and mites as well as boost our coconuts production,'' said farmer Jamal Sheikh of Tangrakhali in the upazila.

He earned profit of Tk 1.5 lakh by selling green coconuts this year, said Jamal, also a coconut trader.

Green coconut collector Dulal Hawlader of Mosni village said they collect different sizes of green coconuts from adjacent areas like Kachua, Sadar and Morrelgonj upazilas for Tk 14 to Tk 18 per piece.

“We then took the coconuts to Fataypur Bazar, a wholesale market, in Kachua. We got Tk 20 to Tk 22 per piece there,” he said.

Coconut trader Kabir of Fataypur Bazar said they send about 20,000 green coconuts to Dhaka and Bogra almost every day. They sold each coconut for Tk 28 to Tk 35 to the traders of Dhaka and Bogra.

Deputy Director of Department of Agriculture Extension in Bagerhat Md Aftab Uddin said they have almost controlled the mites and rats which were damaging the coconuts.

At present, the production of green coconut has increased and the farmers are interested in planting coconut trees as it is very profitable.