Local and foreign fruits of many kinds are available even in remote parts of Thailand. Tourists here eat fruit far more than other foods, and prices are within reach. Beside every road, in small and large markets, in shopping malls and in front of restaurants, the array of tasty fruit is striking.

Agricultural entrepreneurs meet local demand and export the rest abroad, and the fruit is available at a much lower price than in Bangladesh.

Thailand is an astonishing country that surprises tourists with the originality of its culture, very different from the European part of the world. Tourists from many countries often holiday here because of its fine beaches and good climate.

Fruit of many kinds is available at any time of year, easy to buy and reasonably priced.

The fruits include durian, dragon fruit, mango, longan, rambutan, mangosteen, banana, guava, lychee, chompu apple, jackfruit, passion fruit, pomelo, salak, langsat, coconut, jamin, mafai, noina, noni, cherimoya, papaya, santol, tamarillo, watermelon, latkan and many more.

Saplings of all kinds of fruit trees are also sold, but they are expensive: nurseries offer plants priced from 300 to almost 2 lakh in Bangladeshi taka.

Thailand has the most fruit orchards and nurseries in Narithoyat province, where about 90 per cent of people work in agriculture. Fruit and saplings grown there are supplied to different parts of the country.

Many Bangladeshis are involved in exporting fruit from Thailand to Bangladesh. Among them is Mohammad Hasan, a Dhaka resident with a large warehouse at Talakkha in Bangkok, from which he sends fruit and vegetables home every week.

Mohammad Hasan said he has been sending Thai-grown fruit to Bangladesh for about 20 years. There is strong demand at home, and sending newly grown fruit brings a good profit. Fruit is sent by cargo every week, but cargo costs have risen.

Md Mahbub Alam, who lives in the Israfat area of Bangkok, said: "In Thailand people are not very keen on rice. I eat rice once every few days."

"Eating fruit all the time has become a habit. It is also cheaper than other food. Besides, the fruit here has no formalin or chemicals."

Reporting by M Main Uddin, from Thailand.

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