A housewife in Patuakhali was inspired when she went to buy jujubes (boroi) at someone else's orchard. The dream she saw then has become reality. With initiative, hard work and proper care, Taslima Begum of Guabaria village in Marichbunia union, Sadar upazila, has become self-reliant by growing jujubes.

Three years ago, Taslima Begum went to buy fruit at a jujube orchard in the neighbouring village of Peyarpur and was charmed by its beauty and yield. She later toured the orchard with her husband and became keen to grow jujubes herself. She decided to put the abandoned land on the riverbank in front of her house to use, and planted an orchard on 20 decimals of her own fallow land.

Taslima collected about 200 jujube grafts of various varieties from Jashore, including Thai apple kul, Kashmiri apple kul and Ball Sundari, and planted them. With proper care, her orchard began bearing fruit within just a year. It took a while to recover costs in the first year, but from the second year she began to make a profit. In the current third season she expects that once all the fruit is sold, the whole amount will be profit.

According to the Patuakhali Sadar upazila agriculture office, Patuakhali district is known for rice and mung bean. But alongside rice, cash crops such as watermelon, jujube and mung bean are becoming increasingly popular in the upazila. Last fiscal year the jujube target for Patuakhali Sadar upazila was set at 36 hectares; this fiscal year it has risen by 4 hectares to 40 hectares. On average more than 11.33 tonnes of jujube has been produced per hectare, bringing total production in the upazila to about 453 tonnes.

On the spot, clusters of tasty jujubes of different varieties hang from rows of medium-sized trees. Because it is beside the road, the orchard catches passers-by's eyes. It is fenced with bamboo and netting to protect the fruit from birds and other animals.

Taslima Begum told Jago News: "At first I brought in saplings for the equivalent of one bigha and planted them. With fertiliser, pesticides and care, the trees grew big within a few months. The profit was low in the first year, but in the second year I made a profit of about one lakh taka. I hope to sell about one and a half lakh taka worth of jujubes this year. This season the cost has been only Tk 20,000; the rest will all be profit."

"Jujube farming costs a bit more in the first year, but afterwards there is not much cost," she said. "Once the saplings are planted you don't have to plant again, and the same tree gives fruit again and again. Jujubes are now selling at Tk 200 a kg. I expect an average of 20 to 25 kg of fruit from each tree."

Taslima Begum's husband works in Dhaka and her son is a migrant worker in Saudi Arabia. She also used to live in Dhaka for work, but now lives in the village and looks after the orchard. Inspired by her success, many people nearby are now interested in growing jujubes.

Neighbour Nasrin Begum told Jago News: "Since the trees were planted two years ago, I have seen her take great care of them. The jujubes from her orchard are very sweet. We see the orchard with our own eyes and then buy the fruit. Now, following her example, many in our area have started growing jujubes."

Patuakhali Sadar upazila agriculture officer Md Nazmul Islam Mazumder told Jago News: "Last year jujubes were grown on 36 hectares in the upazila, and this year that has risen to 40 hectares. Various improved varieties are being grown, including apple kul, BAU kul and Ball Sundari. We have made plans to expand jujube farming further by encouraging farmers."

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