Commercial orange growers in the sub-Himalayan northern districts are expecting a bumper orange crop this season, in line with positive the trend of the past few years.
Farmers, especially in Panchagarh and Thakurgaon, said they were confident they could replicate past years’ successes, according to BSS.
The Orange harvest has already begun in these areas. According to Khondker Md Mesbahul Islam, a horticulture specialist at the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), the number of orange growers in the region has increased in recent years, as commercial farming has proved to be profitable. The growers cultivate the fruit in orchards as well as at their homes.
Orange farming started growing in popularity in 2006, when the DAE undertook a five-year project called the Orange Development Project. Currently there are approximately 315,000 orange trees on approximately 460 orchards of various sizes, covering about 245 hectares of land in the region.
The success of the project turned on a number of initiatives: distributing new saplings, nurturing old trees, and setting up new orchards. It ended in June 2011 and has not been renewed since.
Asir Uddin Ahammed, an orange farmer, told BSS that farmers like him had faced problems setting up new orchards since the project expired. He demanded “a new lease of life” for the project, to further strengthen and popularise the industry.
According to DAE’s Deputy Directors Nazrul Islam of Panchagarh and Belayet Hossain of Thakurgaon, commercial orange cultivation could radically change the economy of the region.