Promising malta cultivation in plain land

Rows of trees, six to seven feet tall, heavy with green malta fruit is a rare sight to behold at Satoti village in Mymensingh.

For the first time in Gouripur upazila, Abul Mansur Ahmed, an award winning agriculturist, has been able to successfully grow an orchard of the citrus fruit on 33 decimals of his ancestral land.

Mansur, who retired as assistant agriculture extension officer from the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) in Mymensingh in 2017, said he wanted to experiment with large scale farming of malta in the plain land of Gouripur although the fruit usually grows in mountainous areas.

“I collected some 90 malta saplings of BARI-1 variety from Gouripur Upazila Agriculture Office in 2017 and started the orchard using my previous agricultural experiences,” Mansur said.

Two years later, he earned a profit of about Tk 1 lakh by selling malta at Tk 4,400 per maund, he informed.

“Around 60 trees bore fruits this year and there are about 60 fruits in each tree,” he said, adding that the estimated yield of his orchard was sold for Tk 1,60,000 and he has spent about Tk 60,000 behind his venture.

Orchard owners usually sell out their estimated yield when the trees bear fruits and take care of the fruit-bearing plants until harvest and collection by traders. 

Mansur, who received the Bangabandhu National Award in 1999 for his contribution in the agricultural expansion of mukhi kachu (arum) and challisha potato (a local variety of potato), hoped that the rest of the malta trees will also bear fruit next year and the total production will increase as the trees attain maturity.

“The cost will lessen too in coming years thus increasing profit as no additional investment in sapling purchase will be needed. The trees will bear fruit for another 20 to 30 years,” he predicted.

Mansur claimed that his cost of orchard maintenance was low because he used natural compost instead of chemical fertilisers and sprayed the trees with detergent mixed water to keep insects away.

The 62-year-old veteran, also planted intercrops such as brinjal, radish, papaya, sweet gourd and lady’s finger in his orchard in 2017 and 2018 and sold the vegetables for a total of about Tk 1 lakh.

“Initially, many were sceptical of my endeavour because the fruit mainly grows in hilly areas but, now, they admire me seeing the success of malta cultivation and anticipating its bright future,” Mansur said.

He said, farmers of the locality are contacting him for malta saplings and he plans to supply around 1,500 malta saplings to the local farmers by the end this year for at least Tk 200 each.

Farmer Manik Mia of Satoti village said he has become interested in malta cultivation as it is both profitable and sustainable with little scope of incurring loss.

Firoza Begum, a sub-assistant agriculture officer in Gouripur, said malta trees start to bear fruits within a year and a five-year-old malta tree can bear around 400 malta fruits in a year.

Gouripur Upazila Agriculture Officer Lutfunnahar said malta, enriched with Vitamin-C, is a cash crop and it can become a good source of income for small farmers.

However, malta cultivation needs proper care so that the field is not affected by virus and bacteria, added the official.

After visiting Mansur’s orchard, Farhana Karim, Gouripur upazila nirbahi officer (UNO), hoped that Mansur’s success will inspire other farmers of the upazila.

Praising Mansur’s success, Mymensingh DAE Deputy Director Mohammad Abdul Mazed said farmers should go for different types of fruit farming to meet the demands of the country’s fruit markets.