Lotkon brings smile to Lalmonirhat growers

Bumper production of lotkon (Burmese grape), good profit and increase in demand for this delicious and nutritious fruit have brought smiles to farmers in the district.

Many farmers in the district have switched to farming lotkon as it brings better profit.

A few years ago, lotkon trees would grow in bushy places and jungles with almost no nurturing in villages in Sadar, Aditmari and Kaliganj upazilas, but they are now grown on commercial basis on several hundred acres of land in many villages. Many farmers have become self-reliant by growing lotkon, and unemployed youths of the areas are showing interest in cultivating this seasonal fruit.

District Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) Deputy Director Bidhubhushin Roy said there are 300 lotkon orchards in the district and each orchard covers one to two acres of land, while there were only 50 orchards five years ago, adding that each tree produces around two to eight maunds (one maund equals 40 kg) of the fruit.

He told this correspondent that the area covered by lotkon farming this year is double that of last year. Besides commercial cultivation, lotkon is grown in the yards of homesteads and on fallow land, which is not included in the DAE statistics, he said, adding that lotkon grown in the district is being send to different parts of the country.

Abdul Karim, 50, a lotkon farmer of Mohammadpur village in Sadar upazila, said he planted 120 lotkon trees on one acre of land in his orchard three years ago, and 40 trees have borne fruit for the first time this year. “I have sold 15 maunds of lotkon at Tk 2,400 per maund in the last one week,” he said, adding that he will get 70 maunds to 80 maunds more in June.

“We don't need to use chemical fertiliser or pesticide for lotkon farming as it grows naturally,” he said, adding that it is a profitable fruit item for farmers.

Azizul Islam, 48, of Bhadai village in Aditmari upazila, who has been farming lotkon on commercial basis for the last five years, said, “This year I have doubled my lotkon orchard area, making it two acres."

Anil Chandra Barman, 52, of Kodalkhata village in Sadar upazila, said he did not get profit from litchi farming, so he has decided to grow lotkon on his four acres of land in the next season.

Fruit trader Nazim Uddin, 45, of the fruit market at BDR Gate in the town, said one kg of lotkon is being sold at Tk 80 to Tk 100 now, and the price will come down to Tk 40 to Tk 50 within two weeks when the supply increases. “We are also sending lotkon to different areas of the country,” he said.