Hidden treasure...

A ginger field of Mahua Azim at Joynagacha village in Modhupur ready for harvest. PHOTO: STAR

This sounds unbelievable. But farmers in Tangail say so from their experience.

There is very good prospect of cultivation of this medicinal spice in highlands in Tangail, Netrakona, Mymensingh and Jamalpur districts.

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Of late, ginger cultivation is gaining popularity in different upazilas including Ghatail, Madhupur and Sakhipur in Tangail district.

Use of this spice in curry is known to all. Many will raise eyebrows if told of its very high medicinal value. Costly ginger juice, used in preparation of many types of homoeopathic and herbal medicines, has good export market also.

But unfortunately ginger is now imported, mainly from India and Bhuta, for use as price while vast high lands in the country suitable for its cultivation remains fallow. The domestic production can not meet the demand.

Locally produced ginger is of better quality than the imported ones, according to growers, agriculture officials and herbal medicine producers.

Tangail is one of the main ginger producing areas in the country.

According to Deputy Director of Tangail district Agriculture Extension Department (AED) Mohammad Fazlul Karim, about three lakh mounds of ginger is produced in the district annually from 1729 acres, mainly in Modhupur, Ghatail and Sakhipur upazilas.

Ginger shoots are planted in mid-March to mid-April and the spice is harvest in August-September.

High lands in Tangail forest area are most suitable for ginger cultivation. About three thousands families in the district are now engaged in ginger cultivation, according AED officials in Tangail.

Almost all the farmers cultivate the local variety because this grows better there than other varieties, Fazlul Karim told this correspondent.

The soil of Tangail is more suitable for local variety than high yielding ones, he said. HYV varieties have less medicinal value, he said.

Ginger harvest in the district has already started and the spice is sold at Tk 3200 or so per maund now in the wholesale market. One plant yields at least one kilogram of ginger, growers say.

But the ginger farmer say they are not getting the far price from traders who come from other districts and buy the product from their lands. They can not bargain as the product is perishable. They have no facility to preserve it in specialised clod storage.

Mimi Hagidog, a ginger farmer in Joynagacha village cultivated ginger on two acres of land.

She expects to harvest about 175 mounds and sell it for around Tk 5 lakh. About half of the land was affected by the recent flood. The yield and earning would have been almost double had there been no flood, she said.

Mahua Azim another ginger farmers in the same village said she cultivated ginger on one acre. She hopes to get about 90 mounds and sell those at around Tk 2.5 lakh. She said her land was also partially damaged by flood this year.

Both said ginger cultivation is very profitable with little investment.

AED DD Fazlul Karim also said flood damaged about fifty percent of ginger lands in Tangail this year.

Abdur Rahman of Sakhipur said ginger cultivation is spreading in his area because it is more profitable than other crops.

He said a farmer can earn about Tk five lakh from one acre in about six months. Its cultivation is also very easy.

In Modhupur upazila, every tribal family has a ginger land, big or small. They grow the spice in fallow lands which are not suitable for cereals. Hardy tribal women normally look after the ginger fields.

Ginger cultivation is also gaining popularity among Bangalee families in the district now. This correspondent saw many such families preparing to harvest the crop from their courtyards and high lands near houses left fellow earlier.

The farmers said its cultivation will expand if supporting facilities like marketing and preservation are available.

With government patronisation, the country can export the medicinal spice after meeting the home demand, some enthusiastic farmers said.

To a question in this regard, Fazlul Karim said the government has undertaken a project to increase ginger cultivation. The project includes training to farmers through organising exhibition plots in ginger-producing areas, he said. But things are yet to start.