Jujube orchards a winner for Jessore farmers

Several varieties of jujube, locally known as kul or boroi, are proving to be a worthwhile crop in Jessore. Around 500 local farmers, especially in Sharsha upazila, are benefiting from jujube cultivation, with their harvests being sold in Dhaka and across the country.

Popular varieties include apel, bau and the newly-developed Dhaka-90 jujube strain, all of which can offer solid profits within several months of planting.

“I have been growing jujube on fifteen bighas of land for three years,” says one farmer, Azam. “I hope to earn around Tk 1 lakh from each bigha. Even in the first year, with a new orchard, I was able to earn Tk 3.5 lakh. In the years to come I should be increasingly financially secure.”

“My three-bigha jujube orchard is surrounded by netting to protect against raids by birds and bats. I also employ a bagging system to further secure the harvest,” explains another farmer, Shariful Islam.

Khorshed Alam from Samta village has been at the forefront of the local jujube industry's development, growing the fruit for the last twelve years. With three orchards spread over ten bighas, his efforts have inspired others. “I started with little capital,” he says, “but my jujube farm is going well.”

“The bau variety grows well here,” he says. “We can achieve a really large-sized fruit. If they are tended properly, the fruit achieves a nice white colour when ripe. For the moment many are yet brown; harvest will continue until February.”

Jujube requires regular fertiliser and irrigation, Khorshed adds. He employs seven regular gardeners to tend his orchard, with many seasonal labourers working during the harvest months.

“It costs a little over Tk 30,000 per bigha to grow jujube,” he says. “And fruit sales per bigha from an established orchard should reach close to Tk 1 lakh.”

Khorshed is also helping others. This season, around 45 other orchardists will send jujube harvests to Dhaka and Barisal through this renowned jujube farmer, with shipments having started last November.

“Jujube orchards are popular in this upazila,” says Sharsha's agriculture officer, Hirak Kumar Sarkar. “Farmers are encouraged by the profits being made.”