DOT Desk: According to the Department of Agriculture Extension office in Rajshahi, there are around 800,000 date palms in the district, Dhaka Tribune.
What used to be simple extraction of juice from isolated date palms has now turned into a profitable process for entrepreneurs in the district.
Extracting juice from date trees is usually done in Puthia, Charghat and Bagha upazilas of Rajshahi, which is now not only sold commercially, but also exported to other countries.
According to the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) office in Rajshahi, there are around 800,000 date palms in the district, from which 8,000 tons of jaggery is produced from the extracted juice, worth Tk60 crore every winter.
The highest volume of date palms can be found in Charghata, with 396,000 in total. Bagha contains 299,000 palms, while Puthia has 85,000 date trees.
The date palms become sources of income for the juice extractors whenever winter arrives. Men and women participate in the activity in full force.
The jaggery produced is taken to Puthia’s Baneshwar, Jhalmalia and Bagha Sadar for wholesale packaging, after which it is sent to Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet and other major points of the country.
Anwar Hossain, a buyer from Barisal, purchased date jaggery from Puthia’s Baneshwar Bazar at Tk60 per maund, which he would later sell in Barisal for Tk80-90 per maund.
Mohsin Ali, a jaggery seller at the same bazaar, said that even last week, he had sold a maund of the produce for Tk65, but the price has reduced this week due to increased production.
Some 30,389 farmers have date gardens in Bagha upazila, where 150,000 date palms can be found.
About 4,000 extractors are involved in this trade at Bagha. An extractor can extract juice from 50 to 55 date palms per day.
The juice is then processed into jaggery, which is then sold at several markets of Bagha for Tk60-70 per maund.
The jaggery is later sold in retail markets for prices as high as Tk90-95 at the start of winter, then it dips when production volumes rise.
Enamul Haque, a trader of date jaggery at Bagha Bazar, said that estimated transaction in the current winter season is ranged between Tk45 crore and Tk50 crore, which will earn the producers as much as Tk20 crore.
Agriculture officer of Bagha upazila Saminul Islam said that Tk20 crore will be earned this season from date jaggery, according to government estimates.
He added that the DAE will help to increase commercialization of date juice and jaggery production in the district, with the help of innovation and technology.