Menu
The government has taken a massive Taka 100-crore special package programme for boosting the growing small-scale tea farming that has already become very popular bringing fortunes to many in Panchagarh villages. Under the programme being implemented by Bangladesh Tea Board (BTB), the small and marginal farmers are being provided with training on the latest technologies for tea farming, loans, tea saplings and necessary inputs, officials concerned said.
The government initiatives will further prompt economic advancements of the common people, farmers as well as working women, as the small and marginal farmers have been showing more interest in farming the cash crop in the areas. Side by side with the latest assistance, local farmers and experts suggested setting up more tea processing industries, competitive markets for tealeaves and resolving some problems like power crisis for accelerating further growth of the tea sector. The prospective tea sector has created opportunities for hundreds of working women to change their fate by achieving self-reliance through earning wages as plucking workers in tea gardens of the officially recognized third tea zone in the country.
Presently, nearly 7,500 skilled and unskilled workers, mostly women, have been working in about 260 tea gardens, including 18 big estates, 13 medium-size and 229 small-scale gardens set up on about 2,200 acres in Panchagarh alone. Small-scale tea growers are now happier as the tea processing factories of Tentulia Tea Company Ltd (TTCL) and Karotoa Tea Garden started purchasing green tealeaves at Taka 11 per kg though the rate was only Taka 9.50 in the past. As per a survey conducted by BTB, there is over 16,000 hectares land suitable for tea farming in Panchagarh alone and nearly 2,200 acres have so far been brought under tea farming in the area since 2002. The BTB has taken the special steps, including finding newer areas for tea farming, with a view to further expanding tea farming areas and increasing tea production in the country to meet its growing local demand and increase exports. There are tremendous prospects of the expanding tea sector and creating job opportunities to enhance economic activities further in the region, president of Panchagarh Chamber of Commerce and Industry Iqbal Kaiser Mintu said.
Bangladesh and Nepal have agreed to enhance bilateral trade and investment through Rohonpur-Singabad-Birganj transit route and proposed Dhaka-Kathmandu bus service via Banglabandha-Kakorvita corridor. The matters were discussed when Bangladesh Ambassador to Nepal Dr. Neem Chandra Bhowmik on Monday presented the Letters of Credence to Nepalese President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav at the President Building, Sheetal Niwas, to begin his new career as a diplomat in a switchover from science teaching at Dhaka University.
President Ram Baran Yadav assured full cooperation in further enhancing bilateral trade and other relations between the two countries. He specially mentioned Bangladesh’s cooperation in facilitating Nepalese students to study medical science and engineering in Dhaka. According to a message from the Bangladesh mission in Kathmandu the President personally pointed out Dr. Bhowmik as an energy expert and wished he could work in this field in Nepal. The Ambassador showed his keen interest in Nepal’s economically feasible potentiality to hydropower generation of 45,000 megawatts, saying that “it will be helpful for economic development in this region”. Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sujata Koirala, the Chief of Army Staff, the Principal Secretary and other high officials were present on the occasion.
