BSS, Rangamati :
Growers and Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) are expecting a bumper production of banana in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) during the current season.
The growers of the areas have brought 25,000 hectare of land under banana cultivation against the target of 18,275 hectares.
Earlier, the DAE had fixed the targets of 7,900 hectares of land in Bandarban, 7,175 hectares in Rangamati and 3,200 hectares in Khagrachhari districts for banana cultivation.
But the growers have exceeded the overall target by more than 7,000 hectares, said Udoy Sankar Mudsudyee, Additional Director of DAE.
Farmers of the three CHT districts are confident to harvest a total of 4,34,740 tonnes of banana this season, he said.
At least 20,000 farmers are growing the crop which may fetch them around Taka 20 crore as the fruit is being sold at Taka 5,000 per tonne, an observation of DAE said.
Traders purchase around 80 percent of banana produced in the CHT and transport those across the country for domestic consumption, the observation added.
At least 15 species of banana including Sagar, Sabri,
Gerang, Bangla Kala, Champa, Surjyamukhi, Kanchakala are being produced in the districts as both the soil and the climate here are conducive for producing the cash crop.
Rangamati district marketing officer Momtazuddin said due to lack of cold storage facilities and banana processing plants, the farmers are being deprived of fair price.
He said dried banana chips could fetch the growers Taka 100 crore in CHT a year if a processing plant was set up in the area.
