Before winter has even arrived, the date palms of Natore are being prepared for the sap season. Gachhis, the sap collectors, who come from across the country, are busy trimming, wrapping and cleaning the trees. The district's date palm jaggery meets local demand and is sent all over Bangladesh.
Lalpur upazila alone has about 133,325 date palms. This season's target is 3,210.5 tonnes of jaggery from them, with a likely market value of about Tk 64.21 crore.
The gachhis take the trees from local owners and collect the sap, paying the owners in jaggery and cash. The sap is boiled into jaggery on the spot and sold locally, and many collectors and traders also sell it online across the country.
Ismail Hossain, 42, a gachhi from Hasbaria village, said the branches are being cut back to make the trees ready for tapping. Nazrul Islam, 44, from Krishnarampur, has done this work for 30 years and has already prepared 150 trees this season.
Lalpur upazila agriculture officer Pritam Kumar Hore said the collectors are being advised on getting good sap and good-quality jaggery. Tended properly, he said, a single tree can give up to about 25 kilograms of jaggery over the season.
The upazila health department, meanwhile, is warning people that bats can spread the Nipah virus through raw date palm sap. Upazila health and family planning officer Dr Md Monjur Rahman said the sap must be boiled thoroughly before it is drunk.
Reported by Krishi Shomoy's Natore correspondent.
Photo: Boiling date palm sap into jaggery in Jessore, NIslamPhoto / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Source: Krishi Shomoy
Comments
(0)