Coffee cultivation has started in
the red soil of Madhupur Garh of the district, pineapple, banana capital. Due
to the high and red soil of the Madhupur Garh area, there is a bright prospect of
coffee cultivation.
In the Madhupur Garh region, there is
the famous historical Shalban. A lot of agricultural crops are grown in this
area of Shalbon. In addition to various agricultural crops including
pineapple, banana, ginger, kachu, turmeric, papaya, lemon, dragon, malta, and guava
on red soil, recently, the agriculture department, with the inspiration and
support of the local parliament member, agriculture minister, Dr. Md. Abdur
Razzak MP, cashew nut and coffee research development and expansion. Farmers
have started coffee cultivation through the project.
The Department of Agriculture has
opined that coffee cultivation has bright potential due to the good soil,
topography, climate, and soil fertility of the Madhupur Garh region. Chanwar
Hossain, a local farmer, received the Bangabandhu Agricultural Gold Medal for
cultivating this coffee.
According to Madhupur Upazila
Agriculture Office sources, through cashew nut and coffee research development
and extension project, farmers have started coffee cultivation on 11 hectares
of land in Madhupur in the financial year 2021-22. So far 7500 coffee seedlings
have been distributed among 53 farmers. Although there are 60 species of coffee
in the world, there are two types of coffee cultivated commercially. Arabica
and Robusta varieties of coffee have been started for commercial cultivation in
this area. Special activities are being carried out through this project in the
hilly areas to expand the cultivation of good quality and fragrant coffee due
to favorable weather and climate.
Robusta coffee is very suitable for the climate of Bangladesh. Due to this, its expansion is possible in a mountainous region and Madhupur's average climate of Tangail. The agriculture department said that the soil and climate are suitable enough for coffee cultivation.
It is known that the first coffee
garden was built on the red soil of Madhupur. 10 km from Madhupur city. A
farmer named Chanoar in Durre Mahishmara village first started coffee
cultivation as a private enterprise. Farmer Chanoar said that he started coffee
farming as a hobby 5 years ago after leaving his job. He collected 200
seedlings from Raikhali in the Rangamati district. A dream coffee garden was built
in the mountainous area of Mahishmara village of Madhupur Upazila in Tangail.
He claims that he was the first to start coffee cultivation in Madhupur. A
coffee garden has been developed on about 2 bighas of land. There are 5-6 hundred
mature trees. Coffee hangs from every tree. Eye-catching coffee rhymes. Like a
piece of coffee kingdom. Chanwar Hossain is the son of Jamal Hossain of
Mahishmara village in Madhupur. After leaving the teaching profession in
Sylhet, he came to the village and turned to agricultural work.
Garden coffee seedlings look a
bit like cedar seedlings. Every tree has bunches of coffee fruits hanging from
it. As if the coffee beans look great in the greenery. This crop is like a new
guest in agriculture. Ripe coffee beans look like sour red and some raw yellow.
Raw ones are green. Apart from coffee trees, there are also some other trees in
the garden. Each mature plant begins to flower between March and mid-April.
Flowers turn into pods between May and June. The pods mature between mid-August
to September. Later these lumps should be dried in the sun. To make it suitable
for marketing and drinking coffee, the powder has to be ground by machine. It
is also known that saplings can be produced from coffee seeds.
If the yield is good and the
weather is favorable, it is possible to get 750 to 1000 kg of coffee per
hectare and 1 kg of coffee per tree per year, according to related sources.
Although the price of coffee has not been fixed locally, it is known that local
farmer Chanowar Hossain is selling green coffee at Tk 1500 and processed coffee
at Tk 2500 per kg.
Farmers are dreaming of coffee
cultivation in the Madhupur region. Expectations will be met by how farmers succeed
through the project. If the desired yield and commercial route are smooth, the
doors of fortune will open for the farmers of this region. Coffee cultivation
will get a new horizon as a new crop in agriculture. This is the idea of the
locals. Upazila Agriculture Officer Al Mamun Russel said that although coffee
processing and commercial systems are not developed locally, processing will
continue through Dhanbari Horticulture.
This agriculture official said
that Madhupur's soil acidity and fertility are suitable for coffee cultivation.
He said that there is a bright possibility of coffee cultivation in the red
soil of the average area with the composition of the rainfall soil. There is no
drought. With the sincere support of Agriculture Minister Dr. Md. Abdur Razzak
MP, 53 farmers have started coffee cultivation on 11 hectares of land through a cashew nut coffee research development and expansion project in this area. They
said that they are working for the expansion and success of this cultivation in
this area. He expressed hope that coffee processing will be done in phases
throughout the project. Support is being provided according to the project along
with training for the farmers to succeed in farming. He hopes that coffee
farming has bright prospects and that farmers will get success.
Source:
Online/SZK
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