Planting trees is not enough; what matters is which species go into the ground. That was the message from Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs Minister Saching Prue Jerry, who called for greening the capital while pushing high-value crops and valuable tree species in the hill districts.

He was speaking as chief guest on Friday, 18 September, at a discussion titled 'Greening Dhaka to Combat Climate Change' and a fruit-sapling distribution at the Jahur Hossain Chowdhury Hall of the National Press Club. Two Dhaka organisations, Shekor and GreenWatch, organised the event jointly.

The minister's argument was economic as much as environmental. Low-grade or ordinary saplings, he said, grow into trees that end up as firewood or cheap furniture, whereas quality, high-value species planted from the start deliver far greater economic and environmental returns. He described rooftop gardening, rainwater harvesting and the greening of Dhaka as national priorities, called for stronger public campaigns through video footage and handbills, and urged experts, the media and the agencies concerned to work together to make the city liveable.

Turning to the hill districts, Saching Prue Jerry said there was wide scope to grow cashew, coffee and other high-value agricultural and spice crops alongside the banana and papaya already common there. Spices produced in the hills could meet domestic demand and save foreign exchange, he said, and latkan cultivation together with Black Bengal goat rearing could lift living standards for marginal hill communities.

The session was chaired by Dhaka Shekor trustee Haji Motaleb Mashraki. GreenWatch editor Mostafa Kamal Majumder, National Press Club general secretary Ayub Bhuiyan and agriculturist Dr Mehedi Masud also took part. After the discussion the minister handed out fruit saplings of several species to the organisers and the audience.

For hill farmers the significance lies in who said it: the head of the ministry responsible for the Chittagong Hill Tracts publicly named cashew, coffee, spices, latkan and Black Bengal goats as the next step for the hill economy beyond banana and papaya, a clear policy signal for market-oriented growers and agri-entrepreneurs in the region.

Source: banglanews24