Pinning hopes on Amropali

Amropali cultivation that began in hills five years ago has opened up great prospects for farmers in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), promising hefty gains.

The production in Khagrachhari this year may be like that of last year, which was an on-year, Horticulture Department officials and farmers said.

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The hills with suitable soil and climate may be turned into mango orchards as in Chapainawabganj, they said.

Amropali is now being cultivated in at lest 600 small gardens and 36 larger ones in Khagrachari district, said horticulturist Mizanur Rahman at Khagrachari Horticulture Centre. Most of the gardens are in Dighinala, Khagrachhari Sadar, Panchhari, Manikchhari, Mohalchhari and Laxmichhari in the district.

"Budding started late this year as flowering started after the bitter winter cold. The weather, temperature and soil are suitable for Amra Pali cultivation in the (CHT) hills", he told this correspondent.

In a modest target, yield from the gardens in Khargachhari may be 75, 000 mounds if weather remains favourable for two months more, he said. The horticulture centre distributed 37,000 Amro Poli planta in Khagrachhari ,Rangamari and Bandherban districts in last two years, Mizanur Rahman said.

But the gardens are facing the biggest threat from brick fields. There are more than 100 brick fields in CHT and around 40 of them are in Khagrachari, he said. Smoke from the brick fields badly affects mango buds.

"Its price per kilogram remains at least Tk 10 more than other mangoes", farmer Sneha Ranjan Chakma said in Kukichhara.