Latkan (Burmese grape) farming has changed the life of Hafez Rokonuddin of Nayanpur village in Bhaluka upazila, Mymensingh. He once made a living leading prayers as an imam at mosques in different parts of the country; today he has built two commercial latkan orchards on 4 bighas of land. Besides selling fruit, he earns lakhs of taka a year producing grafts of improved varieties. A superior variety he developed has become known locally as "Nayanpuri latkan".

In Nayanpur, rows of latkan trees are bent under the weight of fruit, with bunches of ripe latkan hanging among the green leaves. Even before the season is fully under way, wholesalers from different districts are coming to the orchard to buy fruit, while farmers and entrepreneurs are crowding in to collect grafts of the improved variety.

Hafez Rokonuddin said he started in 2018 with just 30 latkan saplings bought from Muktagachha in Mymensingh. Later he added an old orchard and began commercial farming with about 200 trees. But at first many of the trees were male, and he did not get the yield he had hoped for. He then learned grafting himself, selected high-yielding trees and began developing a new variety. After long trials, success began to come from 2023, and it has become even clearer this season.

"Over the past eight years I have worked with eight to ten varieties. After long trials, two seemed the best. One of them has big fruit, tastes very sweet and is in high demand in the market. I failed at first but did not give up. I want those who take saplings from me to profit too, so I make grafts only from tested trees," he said.

There is a story behind the variety's name. This year Shykh Seraj, presenter of the farming television programme "Hridoye Mati O Manush", visited his orchard and suggested naming the variety "Nayanpuri latkan" after the village. Since then it has been known locally by that name.

He now sells one-year-old grafted saplings for Tk 100 and one-and-a-half- to two-year-old grafts for Tk 200 to Tk 250. Every year farmers and entrepreneurs from different districts collect these grafts. From grafts alone he earns about Tk 7 lakh to Tk 8 lakh a year.

This season, the latkan from his orchard is selling at Tk 3,500 a maund. At the start of the season he has already sold fruit worth about Tk 70,000 to Tk 80,000, and he expects sales to rise over the rest of the season. Besides his own orchard, he also buys fruit wholesale from several nearby orchards and markets it.

Md Enamul Haque, a farmer who came from Gafargaon to see the orchard, said: "I came after seeing videos of the orchard on social media. I liked the fruit when I tasted it, so I bought 32 grafts. If the yield is good, I will also set up a commercial latkan orchard."

Local farmer Abdus Salam said: "Rokonuddin's latkan fruit is large, tasty and attractive, so people have come to trust the saplings he produces."

Bhaluka Upazila Agriculture Officer Nusrat Zaman told Jagonews: "Latkan is currently grown on about 5 hectares in the upazila. Rokonuddin is producing high-quality latkan saplings, and his fruit is very tasty. If new orchards are set up with good-quality saplings, Bhaluka's latkan could in future meet domestic demand and also create export potential."

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.