TANGENTSBy Ihtisham Kabir
Brikkho <i>Mela</i>
Nursery display at the Mela. Photo: Ihtisham Kabir
Brikkho Mela, the annual tree fair, takes place in Agargaon through June. It is a haven for tree and nature enthusiasts where many nurseries and arboreal institutions offer up a surprising diversity of treats. The main attraction is trees, from tiny seedlings to grown ones with fruits. Many are suitable for rooftop fruit gardens. Bewildered by the variety, I try to simplify. “If I could start with three fruits trees on the roof, what should they be?” I ask at the Bangladesh Green Roof Movement. “Guava, lemon and kamranga (starfruit) are the easiest,” I am informed. One also needs large containers (drums) and good soil for growing the trees. Exotic varieties are plentiful. Several nurseries display Egyptian sweet fig, longan, dragonfruit, passionfruit (also called Tang) and avocado trees. Thai varieties of local favourites including jambura, tetul, sofeda and mango are popular. Prices can vary from several thousand taka for a ready-made fruit-bearing longan tree to three hundred for the fig. In an Agricultural Extension stall I find a woman selling dried oyster mushrooms. Behind her, large ganoderma mushrooms - useful for medicinal purposes - grow on chunks of wood. With advice and materiel from here, she says, one can also grow shiitake, reishi, milky white, and button mushrooms. However, mushrooms are finicky and need precise humidity and temperature. At a bonsai stand are banyan and ashwath bonsais. With the right technique, a bonsai can be “grown” in two to five years. Local bonsai artists now prefer working on native species - hijol, for example, works well - rather than foreign ones. Several stalls are selling honey. Some bottles contain kalijeera, mustard or lychee flower honey. Herbal remedies, as well as medicinal plants, are also available, as are organic and inorganic plant food. At another stall I watch a demonstration: how to grow several varieties of boroi on the same tree. Branches of the different varieties are grafted into the common root using a technique called cleft grafting. This technique can also be used to grow multiple citrus varieties on the same tree. Timber saplings are also sold. While the usual suspects mahogany, acacia, teak and eucalyptus are present, a relatively new variety called lombu is popular. It is fast-growing, takes up little lateral space, and yields strong wood. Some information confuses me. A large poster listing vulnerable and endangered trees in Bangladesh includes aloe vera (Ghrito Kanchon), chikrashi and agar. I am baffled. Aloe vera is grown throughout the country and consumed year round, while agar and chikrashi are also planted widely for commercial purposes. As I leave the fair, two thoughts come to mind. The first concerns agricultural innovation. While I have read about this innovation in the papers, this is a great place to see it in practice. My second thought comes from observing the attendees from all walks of life who thoroughly enjoy the fair. Economic forces can take people away from nature. But no one can take nature away from people.
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