Away from the noise of the town, past winding hill paths, local farmer Ali Hossain has built a tea garden as a hobby at Taindong near the border. The garden stands on 30 bigha of land beside the Krishnadayal BGB camp at Taindong, about 50 kilometres from the Matiranga upazila headquarters in Khagrachhari. Across the folds of the uneven hills, a green carpet of "two leaves and a bud" makes the hills look greener still. Farmer Md Ali Hossain's hobby garden is seen as a new horizon for tea production in Khagrachhari.

According to the Bangladesh Tea Board, 168 tea gardens are registered in the country, 22 of them in Chattogram district. Since 2016 there has been a tea garden on 43 acres at Tintahari in Manikchhari, bordering Chattogram district, which is the Tea Board's most recently registered garden. Ali Hossain's garden is not on that list.

Local people come every day to see the green, eye-catching garden. A patch of tea garden in the remote hills has added something new to the lives of the hill communities, and locals believe it will open new possibilities in the hills.

Garden owner Ali Hossain said: "I decided to start a tea garden hoping to do something different. In 2016 I bought 30 bigha of land. After testing whether the soil was suitable for tea, I brought seeds from Sylhet and raised seedlings. There are now 6,000 tea plants on 4 bigha, and the rest of the land will gradually be planted. We sell about Tk 6 lakh worth of tea a year. Production costs a little over half of that."

He processes the leaves with a machine he made himself. "I sell tea locally at Tk 300 a kg, and sell about 2,100 kg a year," he said. "The plants in the garden are now nine years old. Once they pass 12 years, every plant will be fully covered in leaves, and then I will make more profit."

Md Rafiqul Islam, a teacher who came from Matiranga to see the garden, said: "I have come with relatives to see the tea garden. The garden full of tender tea leaves is very beautiful and we are having a great time. When I get the chance I will come again with colleagues."

Sub-Assistant Plant Protection Officer Md Amir Hossain said the weather and soil of Matiranga are suitable for tea. "Tea gardens are usually on high hilly land, because the climate and soil of such areas are well suited to tea cultivation," he said.

Matiranga Upazila Nirbahi Officer Monjur Alam said: "I have heard about a tea garden in Matiranga. If the garden is fully developed, it will help maintain the environmental balance of the area, and the country's economy will benefit from tea production."

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