Demand for latakasturi, the musk mallow plant, had risen in Chapainawabganj, Jagonews24 reported on 31 January 2026. According to the report, the plants and their seed were fetching much higher prices in local markets than before, and many farmers in the district were becoming interested in growing the crop. The main buyers were sugarcane growers, who use the plant while turning cane juice into jaggery (gur).
Sold by the kilo at Kansat jaggery market
At around 6am on Friday, 23 January, several growers were seen selling latakasturi plants beside the Kansat jaggery market. The vines were selling at Tk 200 to Tk 250 a kg, and most buyers were sugarcane growers. Kansat is a union in Shibganj upazila of Chapainawabganj district.
Mojibur Rahman, a latakasturi grower from the Abbas Bazar area, told Jagonews24 that he had planted one bigha with the crop. By then he had sold Tk 50,000 worth and hoped to sell at least another Tk 30,000 worth. The report said local growers saw it as a promising cash crop because it can be grown at low cost for a relatively good return.
Sugarcane grower Atikur Rahman Swajan said latakasturi is used to clean cane juice while jaggery is made. In his account, it works so well at clearing dirt and froth from the boiling juice that demand for it among jaggery makers was growing day by day.
How the plant clears cane juice
Dr Md Yasin Ali, deputy director of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in Chapainawabganj, said purifying the juice is a very important step in making jaggery. When cane juice is boiled, dirt, fibre, dust and froth rise to the top. If they are not removed, the jaggery turns dark and its taste and quality can suffer, which is why cane growers and jaggery makers have long used latakasturi.
He explained that when a set amount of the plant is added to the boiling juice, the dirt and froth clump together and float up. Once that layer is skimmed off, the juice runs clear and the jaggery comes out bright in colour and of better quality. Being a natural ingredient, he added, it does not spoil the taste or quality of the jaggery.
Research describes the same kind of natural clarifier. A 2017 study by researchers at the University of Mysore in India, published in the International Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, explains that plant mucilage added during boiling coagulates and carries the suspended impurities in the juice to the surface as scum, which is then removed; the more scum removed, the better the colour and keeping quality of the jaggery. A 2020 IntechOpen review of the genus Abelmoschus, which also includes okra, notes that these plants contain mucilage that is useful in cleaning sugarcane juice in jaggery preparation.
What latakasturi is
Latakasturi, also called kalakasturi locally, is Abelmoschus moschatus, known in English as musk mallow, abelmosk or ambrette. It belongs to the mallow family (Malvaceae), alongside okra and hibiscus, and is native to Asia and Australia. Kerala's State Medicinal Plants Board describes it as an erect herb with leaves divided into three to seven lobes and yellow flowers with a purple centre, growing in rocky places in moist deciduous forests and on the plains.
Its seeds have a sweet, heavy, musk-like scent, and their oil was once used in perfumes in place of animal musk. Jagonews24 reported that while the plant is grown commercially in several countries, it is used comparatively little in Bangladesh. Its leaves, seeds and roots are used in traditional medicine in some countries, but anyone thinking of using a plant as medicine should consult a doctor first.
Photo: Yercaud-elango / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Sources: Jagonews24, International Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (University of Mysore), IntechOpen, State Medicinal Plants Board Kerala, Wikipedia
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