Malta orchards have sprung up village by village in Pirojpur Sadar. Ordinary farmers and entrepreneurs are planting malta on homestead land and achieving the success they hoped for within a short time. The agriculture department hopes malta orchards will become the most profitable farm enterprise in these southern areas.

Rebati Sikder is a marginal farmer in Dakatia village. Farm income alone could not support his family, so he had to do other work for much of the year. About three years ago he planted 150 malta trees on 10 katha of his homestead. The trees are now laden with fruit, and his life is full of dreams of progress.

"The three-year-old trees have set about 500 fruits," he said. "I have two varieties, BARI-1 and Indian malta. I have sold about 70,000 taka worth and sent fruit to Pirojpur, Bagerhat and even Dhaka."

Is malta sour or sweet? Most people vote for sour, but locals say Rebati Sikder's malta is not sour at all but very sweet. The sweet variety is BARI Malta-1, developed by the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) and spread with the agriculture department's help.

Sadar upazila agriculture officer Hasan Warisul Kabir said 40 to 50 new orchards were created this year through project support and motivation, with the department supplying seedlings and fertiliser. There are now 62 malta orchards in Dakatia and 10 to 12 nearby villages, and anyone with a little land dreams of changing their fortunes with malta. The agriculture department believes the area may one day be declared a malta-producing zone.

Source: Shykh Seraj, Hridoye Mati O Manush. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.