Women of the Garo and Hajong Indigenous communities in the remote hill areas of Durgapur upazila are selling telakucha (ivy gourd), kochu shak (taro leaves) and dheki shak.

Bengalis have now joined the Indigenous women in collecting the many kinds of wild greens and vegetables that grow there.

Indigenous women Niyoti Drong of North Gopalpur village and Shukriti Gakhra of Daha Para said: "From morning to afternoon we roam the hills collecting different kinds of vegetables and sell them. The Garo people have depended on the hills and hillocks since ancient times. We eat natural, poison-free greens and vegetables. Nature is our provider."

Upazila agriculture officer Md Mahbubur Rahman said the vegetables they collect are far more nutritious than greens and vegetables grown with fertiliser and pesticides. They also cost a little more, but demand is high. The agriculture department plans a separate project on this, which will be carried out as soon as government funding is allocated, he said.

Source: Amader Shomoy. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.