Rangpur: Cultivation of the medicinal and spicy plant bay leaf has become popular, changing the fate of farmers in several villages of Tepamadhupur union in Kawnia upazila of Rangpur in recent years. Almost every house in Bajemjakur, Tepamadhupur, Chaitar Mour, Rajib, and adjoining villages of the union has a bay leaf garden. Throughout the year, family members, including men, women, and teenagers, in these villages can be seen filling sacks with bay leaves every day after planting and caring for them and handing them over to traders.
According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, local villagers mentioned that many people used to plant bay leaves in their courtyards to meet the family needs of the spicy leaves at one time in Rangpur villages. Since the profit from paddy cultivation is low, many people are becoming interested in bay leaf cultivation. Bay leaves produced commercially in different villages of Kawnia upazila are being sent across the country and more than 20 countries including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Malaysia, and Singapore.
Md Abu Sufian, a farmer from Rajib village, shared that he planted 333 bay leaf plants on 66 decimals of land, spending Taka 30,000, a few years ago. "So far, I have earned Taka two lakh and hope to earn more every year in the future," he said. Likewise, farmer Mohammad Ashraful Islam of the same village has now grown a bay leaf garden on the land where he used to grow various vegetables including rice and jute, noting that bay leaf cultivation requires less effort and cost compared to rice and jute cultivation.
Farmers Abdur Rahman of Bajemjkur village remarked that many farmers in the upazila have now focused on bay leaf cultivation. "To grow a bay leaf garden, the land needs to be cultivated minimally. The seedlings are planted with organic fertilizer and a small amount of chemical fertilizer. Each medium-sized tree produces 25 to 40 kg of leaves per year," he explained.
Local farmers indicated that traders from different parts of the country come to buy raw bay leaves from the garden. Additionally, the leaves of the entire garden can be sold under contract to traders, and various commercial groups purchase bay leaves from different villages. Mohammad Rafiqul Islam, a wholesale trader in the Chaitar Mour area, said he buys 300 sacks of bay leaves from Kawnia upazila every week and sends them to Dhaka, selling them for Taka 108-112 per kg. Exporters from Dhaka then send the bay leaves to more than 20 countries worldwide.
Sub-assistant Agriculture Officer of Rajib Block in Tepamadhupur union, Md Anwar Hossain, stated that bay leaves have been cultivated on more than 60 hectares of land in the union alone. The Kawnia Upazila Agriculture Officer, Krishibid Most Tania Akhter, emphasized that the Department of Agricultural Extension is encouraging farmers to cultivate bay leaf along with other crops to reap maximum profits. She highlighted that the region's climate is suitable for bay leaf cultivation, which possesses many medicinal properties and is used as herbal medicine.