Native dates used to be found in field after field in villages in the month of Jaishtha. Green when unripe and yellow when ripe, they hung all around the trees, looking like juicy fruit swaying in the wind. Anyone walking past felt like picking some, and village boys made a festival of gathering them. That is no longer seen: the native date is on the verge of disappearing.

Jamal Uddin, a farmer in Boroi village in Magura Sadar, said: "Our village used to have many date palms that bore native dates. Many farmers collected the fruit and sold it in the market. But now many farming families have built houses out in the fields, and the trees have been cut down, so there are hardly any date palms left in the village. Native dates are very good quality and very tasty."

Jamil, a farmer in Kapashati village in Sadar, said: "Native dates are not found in markets now. We used to collect dates from the many palms in our village and sell them. But native dates are disappearing. Joint families are breaking up into single families, so many people are leaving their neighbourhoods and building houses in the fields. As a result the native date palms in the fields are being cut down the most."

Shafiq, a farmer in Katakhali village in Sadar, said: "We don't see native date palms in our village any more. Long ago there were many, and they gave plenty of dates. Now there are only a handful, and they don't bear enough fruit."

"As a child I loved native dates," he said. "I used to go to different fields to gather them and bring them home, and the whole family would eat them together. Now, without the trees, native dates are about to disappear. They taste wonderful and children love them. To get back our lost heritage we must plant many more date palms."

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