The recent Tree Plantation Fair in Cox’s Bazar, which featured American coffee plant saplings, demonstrated the growing interest in the potential of coffee cultivation in Bangladesh.
Farmers in the Chittagong Hill Tracts have been cultivating coffee informally since the 1950s, importing seedlings and saplings from Mizoram, India.
In the early stages, they harvested coffee beans in a manner that was not scientific, roasting them on furnaces for personal use.
According to a nursery entrepreneur at the fair, coffee trees can survive for up to 100 years, with fruit production commencing after three years. Nevertheless, it typically requires 6-7 years to achieve a higher yield.
As an economically valuable crop, coffee cultivation holds significant promise for boosting Bangladesh’s economic development.
Photo: Rajin Saleh
