RAJSHAHI, July 24 (BSS): Muhammad Ali, a farmer of Chandapur village under Bagmara upazila of the district, has become successful through betel leaf farming.
As the first betel leaf grower in his locality, Ali earned fame as a successful farmer in the region. His three sons-Aminul Islam, Abdul Hamid and Ali Hossain extended support to his work.
By dint of his hard work and relentless efforts, Ali built a pucca house for the first time in the area.
Witnessing his success many of his neighbours became inspired and established 'Baraj' units for betel leaf farming, and they are now doing well.
At present, the three brothers have set up separate 'baraj' units and have also become successful farmers. "Earlier, we had scanty land, only one 'baraj' and faced many problems.
But, now we are owners of 12 bighas of land and have 4/5 'baraj' units," said Aminul Islam while narrating their success.
Aminul said they work very hard in the farming activities and pass most of their time in nursing betel leaf plants.
Though, they have little formal education, they are now committed to make their offsprings well-educated with their earnings.
Abdul Hamid said demand of Bagmara's betel leaf has enhanced gradually in different parts of the region including Bogra, Rangpur and Dinajpur.
The leaf is also being exported to different countries in the Middle East and has become very much popular in Saudi Arabia.
Earlier, we used to sell betel leaf at different local markets like Atrai, Taherpur, Mohanganj, Mollapara and Aloknagar.
However, at present, Aloknagar has become a big market for betel leaf and many wholesalers and retailers come to the market from different areas to purchase betel leaf.
Abdul Hamid, however, said, betel-leaf production in Mohanpur, Bagmara and Paba upazilas is now facing setback because of virus attack.
As such, farmers always remain worried about getting back their investment.
In this context, Fazlur Rahman, Additional Director of DAE, Rajshahi said "We are extending necessary farming help to the growers of betel leaf together with disease control measures."
Professor Aminul Haque of Agronomy and Agriculture Extension Department of Rajshahi University said betel leaf farming is profitable compared to many other crops.
Two to three lakh taka could be earned from one bigha of land if the farming was modernized, he mentioned.
He said acreage of betel leaf farming is around 2,000 hectares in the district producing around 35,000 metric tons of crops valued at around Tk 900 million (Tk 90 crore) annually and over 25,000 farmers are involved in its farming directly.
Betel leaf farming makes many growers successful in Rajshahi
FE Team | Published: July 25, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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