Production of 'Clocasia crops' has increased significantly in the country, raising the hope of meeting micronutrient needs and getting foreign exchange, officials said.
The output of such crops like eddo, clocasia flower, clocasia stem and leaves, clocasia esculenta (shola kochu) rose from 165,000 tonnes in 2007 to 0.25 million tonnes last year, the department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) data showed.
The tuber crop, which is always been neglected in the mainstream food recipe, has been emerging as a new hope for the people who lack necessary micronutrient in their daily food menu.
According to data from the Tuber Crop Development Project under the DAE, nearly 0.25 million tonnes of clocasia crops have been produced in 2013 on 30,000 hectares of land.
Eddo production increased to 0.04 million tonnes last year----a nearly 90 per cent increase in six years.
The production of clocasia in real term would have been much more if the output of elephant ear plant's tuber and elephant foot yam (ol kochu) were added.
But there is no statistics of production of the two clocasia crops at DAE or at the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).
Meanwhile, in last six years, production of another tuber crop, sweet potato also increased by nearly 20 per cent as the farmers gifted nearly 0.65 million tonnes of sweet potato in 2013 which was 0.55 million tonnes in 2007.
Organic farming scientist at Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) Dr Najim Uddin told the FE that the climatic condition of Bangladesh is very suitable for tuber crops including clocasia, potato, onion, garlic etc.
He said: "The farmers can make handsome profit by less investment and land; the demand for clocasia crop is also increasing day by day".
"Following the increasing demand and gaining good price, production is also increasing", he said.
He also pointed out that clocasia is a great source of iron, vitamin, and other minerals.
"Adding clocasia crop in daily food menu, people can meet requirements of many of the necessary micronutrients," he said.
Seniour scientific officer of Tuber Crop Research Centre under BARI, Md Altaf Hossain said that export of the crop is also increasing day by day.
He said Bangladeshi eddo, elephant foot yam, clocasia stem, leaves and shola kochu have a huge demand in the EU and Middle-East countries.
"Government policy support can boost export of the crop," he said.
When contacted, tuber crop specialist Dr Khalilur Rahman said that profit from clocasia crop is at least two times higher than that of other crops.
"A farmer can make net profit of Tk0.1 million at per hectare by producing clocasia crops," he said.
"Considering it as a profitable crop, the agriculture ministry should take initiatives to increase output of most of the tuber crops," he added.
However, clocasia crops like eddo was sold at Tk 40-45 per kg, clocaisa stem at Tk45-50 per kg, shoal kochu at Tk50-60 per kg, clocasia leaves at Tk8-10 per bunch in on Saturday, according to the retailers at key kitchen markets in the city.
Clocasia flower (kochu ful) was found only in a few markets priced Tk100-120 per kg.
