Chapainawabganj is known as the capital of mangoes; the district produces more mangoes than any other in the country. But this time Rubel Ali (29) has caused a stir not with mangoes but with malta. He has planted 4,000 malta trees of the BARI-1 variety on 26 bighas of land, and hopes to sell about Tk 40 lakh worth of malta this year.

Rubel Ali lives in Nayadiari village of Gomostapur union in Gomostapur upazila. He has built the malta orchard on 26 bighas of leased land at Byalkyapara in Kasba union of Nachole upazila. Rows of malta trees now stand in the orchard, with bunches of deep green and yellow fruit hanging from them. The fruit tastes excellent and is highly nutritious, and local people crowd in every day to see the orchard.

Those involved with the orchard said every tree has borne fruit fully this year, with bunches of malta on each and branches bending to the ground under the weight. Encouraged, they are tending the trees regularly.

Orchard owner Rubel Ali said: "One day while watching YouTube on my mobile phone, a video of a malta orchard came up. I liked it, and that same day I decided to build a malta orchard. At first I planted 3,000 trees. Then, seeing good yields, I bought another 1,000. Now there are about 4,000 malta trees on 26 bighas. I hope to get about Tk 40 lakh from selling malta."

He said: "I started in 2020. So far about Tk 30 lakh has been spent on this BARI-1 malta orchard, but the cost was recovered by selling malta last year alone. This year I spent Tk 12-15 lakh on tending the orchard. My orchard's malta is now selling at up to Tk 100-120 a kg."

The orchard has created jobs for about 20 people. One of them, Tarikul Islam, said: "I work in Rubel bhai's orchard every day and am paid Tk 400 a day. That is how I support my family."

Entrepreneur Ismail Khan Shamim came from Shibganj upazila to see the orchard. He told Jagonews: "I was fascinated by Rubel bhai's malta orchard. It looks amazing, and the fruit is very tasty too. I used to think our country's malta might not be as sweet as other countries'. But eating malta here has changed my mind."

Nachole upazila agriculture officer Saleh Akram said: "We have just visited Rubel Ali's malta orchard. He has built it very nicely, and the malta from his orchard is very sweet. We are standing by Rubel with advice."

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