Collecting herbs changes lives in Sreepur village

Desk Report: People of a village in Gazipur’s Sreepur upazila collect herbs to earn their livings. They collect herbs from remote corners of Bhawal forest, process, and supply them to pharmaceutical companies, reports Dhaka Tribune.
They say they have chosen the profession of herbal trading due to geographical location and huge demand of herbs for medicine.
More than 60 years down the lane, a person of Daleshwar village pioneered this profession. Later, the whole family got involved in it. Now many people of the village are associated with this profession.
Visiting the village, this correspondent sees men and women are busy processing the herbs and drying them under the sun.
He also found another group of people entering there with several rickshaws and vans loaded with herbs.
Seasoned herbal trader, Abdul Kadir Mia, said his late father started the collection of herbal ingredients.
“Back then the Bhawal forest was rich with numerous varieties of medicinal plants and herbs. I used to go to the forest with my father to collect herbs and gradually got involved in this work,” he said.
The 70-year-old said since then collecting medicinal plants has turned into a family tradition.
Another trader, Abdul Mannan, said his father took this as a profession being inspired by Kadir’s father.
“By assisting my father I took an interest in it and have now gotten engaged in this profession as well.
Now all the members of my family are involved with the business,” he said.