Staff correspondent :
The third tea auction centre is going to be opened in the northwest bordering district Panchagarh within a month as the cultivation of tea on plain land is being expanded rapidly day by day.
“The third tea auction centre will be introduced here within one month,” Deputy Commissioner of Panchagarh district Md. Jahurul Islam told BSS.
He said the authorities concerned have already completed all the preparations in this end.
The country has two tea auction centres; one is in Chattogram while another is in Sylhet’s Sreemangal.
The number of tea gardens on the plain land of Panchagarh and Thakurgaon districts along with adjacent areas is increasing day by day as it brings more money to the farmers.
While visiting this area, interest in tea cultivation was seen more than other crops among the farmers of Panchagarh and Thakurgaon districts.
After beginning operations at the Panchagarh auction centre, tea producers in the northern region of Bangladesh will benefit from reduced transportation costs.
At the initial stage, its activities will be conducted through a virtual platform.
Jahurul Islam said, “The activity of the auction centre will help develop the quality of the produced tea.”
With the development of small and large scale tea cultivation, more people are being employed while the economic base of the region is getting stronger.
As a result, in the last 14 and half years, there has been a drastic change in the quality of life of tea plantation workers in these districts.
As per the official documents obtained from the office of deputy commissioner of these two districts, it is found that in the last fiscal year some 12,079 acres of land were brought under tea cultivation in fiscal year 2022-23 in Panchagarh district, while the number is 1,457 acres in Thakurgaon district.
The area of land for tea cultivation in fiscal year 2005-06 was 925 acres in Panchagarh district, while it was nil in Thakurgaon district.
During visits to two districts, it was seen that farmers and various big companies cultivated tea in the plain land of various areas in Panchagarh and Thakurgaon districts.
Small and large tea gardens are being developed in almost every house on their own initiative.
Tea cultivator Solaiman Islam of Tentulia in Panchagarh district said, “I’ve cultivated tea on two bighas of land next to the house and I have been cultivating tea on my land since 2013.”
He added “My children and I are working in my garden. We plucked leaves a few days ago. Now, the new leaves are growing . . . . I will pluck the leaves again.”
Another tea grower of the same upazila, Mumtaz Begum, said that earlier she used to grow paddy but now she is becoming self-sufficient by growing tea on her land.
“Small tea farmers like me, who don’t have a factory, sell leaves to other factories,” she added.
In 1996, with the initiative of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the people of Panchagarh took the initiative to cultivate tea on the plain land. Following that, tea cultivation started in this district in 1999.
With the success of this cultivation in Panchagarh, it has also spread to Thakurgaon district.
The production of tea in Panchagarh district in fiscal year 2022-23 was 9,02,74,632 kilograms while it was only 2,30,000 kilograms in fiscal year 2005-06.
The amount of produced tea for fiscal year 2022-23 was 1,77,81,938 kilograms while it was 44,500 kilograms in fiscal year 2005-06.
The amount of green leaves is 1,09,71,757 kilograms in Thakurgaon district in the last fiscal, while there were 25,23,504 kilograms.
Officials said that the number of big tea gardens in Panchagarh was only one with 172 small ones. But, the number of big tea gardens in fiscal year 2022-23 is nine with 8355 small ones.
They said the number of running mills was one in fiscal 2005-06 while it is 26 in fiscal 2022-23.
Tea garden workers were 1,475 in fiscal 2005-06 while there were 15,000 in fiscal 2022-23. The income from tea sold was Taka 1.2 crore in fiscal 2005-06, while it is Taka 280 crore in fiscal 2022-23.
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