Cox’s Bazar’s week-long tree-planting campaign and tree fair have gained momentum with a growing crowd of visitors and buyers on the weekly holiday.
From Friday afternoon, people began flocking to the fair, browsing stalls for their preferred saplings and purchasing a variety of indigenous and exotic forest, fruit and medicinal plants.
The scene was observed at Shaheed Daulat Maidan on the premises of Cox’s Bazar Public Library around 7 pm on Friday (August 21).
The week-long tree-planting campaign and tree fair began on August 18 under the slogan, “Let’s decorate the country with tree plantation, Bangladesh first.” The fair remains open from 9 am to 8 pm every day and is scheduled to continue until August 24.
Around 30 stalls have been set up at the fair, featuring the Cox’s Bazar Forest Department, Department of Agricultural Extension, Department of Environment, Nature Conservation Management (NACOM), Marine Agro Project and Nursery, Rose Garden Nursery, Cox’s Bazar Nursery, Eidgaon Upazila Nursery and Sabuj Biplob Nursery, among others.
The stalls are displaying and selling saplings of various forest, fruit and medicinal species.
On the fourth day of the fair, the weekly holiday brought added activity among both buyers and sellers. Vendors said sales were higher on Friday than on other days, with the number of customers increasing as the afternoon progressed.
Saiful Haque, proprietor of Saikat Nursery, said, “We have taken part in the fair every year. We have arranged our stall nicely, and as today is the weekly holiday, we are receiving a good response from buyers.”
Nasir Uddin, proprietor of Happy Nursery, said, “We have different varieties of saplings, including fruit and medicinal plants. We have displayed them attractively at the fair and are receiving a good response from visitors and buyers.”
Visiting the fair, educationist and director general of Baitush Sharaf Complex, MM Sirajul Islam, said, “Everyone needs to plant more trees to protect greenery and maintain environmental balance. I have seen wide varieties of trees at the fair and will take some of my preferred saplings home.”
Visitors said having different varieties of saplings available in one place made it easier to choose and purchase plants. Fruit and medicinal saplings appeared to be particularly popular among buyers.
Organisers said the fair aims to encourage people to plant more trees, raise awareness about environmental protection and make saplings of different species more accessible to the public.
By Abdur Rashid Manik
Photo: Abdur Rashid Manik
