Piper chaba vines lucrative for Kurigram farmers

Farmers in Kurigram's Rajarhat upazila are discovering the joy of cultivating the piper chaba plant, a vine locally known as choi jhal that is popularly used as a hot spice additive to flavour meat and fish dishes, as well as for medicinal purposes. With piper chaba demand on the rise, farmers are increasingly keen to grow the vine.

“I have been growing piper chaba within in my areca nut plantation for around fifteen years,” says Hasen Ali, 65 from Chhinai Bazar village in Rajarhat, “and I am increasing production every year. From my piper chaba vines I can earn as much as Tk 50,000 per year.”

“Demand is increasing exponentially,” Hasen adds, “and nowadays every household yard in Chhinai union has a piper chaba vine. Indeed it is so popular that I have a problem with plants being stolen from my garden time to time.”

Usually the plants are sold whole to traders, who then cut them into about 4.5-foot long pieces which are measured and sold by the maund.

Teacher Shafiqul Islam, 32, of Chhinai Bazar area, is also benefiting from piper chaba. “I have been growing the spice for some years,” he says. “This year I earned Tk 10,000 from the crop. Due to stagnant rainwater I lost some of my plants which were damaged near their base; but nowadays I have learnt how to protect them from rainwater too.”

“I have been selling bundles of piper chaba for about eighteen years,” says trader Manik Chandra Roy, 46, from Chhinai. “Among other districts, I sell them as far afield as Khulna, Bagerhat and Satkhira, where piper chaba is popular but will not grow easily due to unsuitable, saline soils.

Kurigram farmers can benefit a lot from piper chaba because it grows well in this district.”

“People use piper chaba in curry dishes, as an alternative to chillies,” says another trader  Mozammel Haque, 44. “It's a popular spice. But farmer profits could be greater if modern  farming technology was used.”

“Piper chaba grows well on higher land,” says Rajarhat upazila's agriculture officer Sasty Chandra Roy. “It has medicinal uses and is a popular spice. And it's profitable. Farmers can easily earn up to Tk 500 per kilogram from piper chaba within two years of planting it. Although our office has not actively promoted the vine, we do offer advice to growers when they request it.

Piper chaba is rarely affected by disease and it certainly has potential as a crop for this region.”