Jessore has formally opened the harvest season for its GI-certified date molasses.
The opening ceremony was held on Monday in Hayatpur village of Patibila union in Chaugachha, with tree tapping and a gathering of date-palm sap collectors. Jessore Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Ashik Hasan was the chief guest. Upazila executive officer Farzana Islam chaired the gathering, and upazila agriculture officer Mosabbir Hossain delivered the welcome address.
Hossain said Chaugachha has about 2 lakh date palms, including at least 30,000 suitable for collecting sap. Each tree produces about 80 litres of sap per season, which can yield about 10 kilograms of molasses.
Based on those figures, he said Chaugachha produces about Tk 90 crore of date molasses each season and Jessore district is expected to produce at least Tk 100 crore this season.
Hasan said the prime minister was following developments in Chaugachha’s date-molasses production and that the agriculture minister had declared the upazila a special agricultural zone. He said the government would take effective steps from this season to export date molasses.
He also said an entrepreneur had begun preparing to export syrup made from date sap this season.
At the end of the programme, the deputy commissioner distributed incentives to sap collectors, including date-palm saplings, tapping knives and sap containers. Local officials and leaders of BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami attended.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report