The tree-tapping (raising and shaving the trunk) to collect sap for Jashore’s GI-tagged date-palm jaggery has been formally inaugurated. Chougacha Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Shahinur Akter inaugurated the work at Hayatpur in Patibila union of Chougacha upazila at around 11:45am on Sunday (2 November).
Present were Assistant Commissioner (Land) engineer Tasmin Jahan; upazila BNP general secretary and Hakimpur UP chairman Masudul Hasan; upazila BNP vice-president and Patibila UP chairman Ataur Rahman Lal; Chougacha Press Club general secretary Azizur Rahman; upazila agriculture officer Musabbir Hussain; livestock officer Anwarul Islam; fisheries officer Taslima Zebin; social-services officer Mehedi Hasan; education officer Mostafizur Rahman; women’s-affairs officer Anjuman Ara Mahmuda; cooperatives officer Wahidur Rahman; project-implementation officer Shamsunnahar; food-warehouse officer Rakibul Islam; and local political and social figures. Hayatpur village tapper Abdur Rahman Gazi did the tapping and shaving, joined by tapper Kamal Hossain and several other tappers and local farmers.
In 2022, on the initiative of Chougacha’s then-UNO Irufa Sultana — now Jashore’s additional district magistrate — steps were taken to preserve Jashore’s traditional date-palm jaggery: a jaggery fair, training for tappers, tapper gatherings, forming a tappers’ cooperative, and planting and preserving date palms. That same year, UNO Irufa Sultana applied for GI-product recognition for Jashore’s famous date-palm jaggery, and on her application the government granted GI recognition to date-palm jaggery in 2023. Since that year, a pure date-palm jaggery fair has been held every year from the first of Magh in the upazila parishad grounds. The upazila administration said this year’s fair, too, would be held on time.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report