Gaibandha Correspondent:
Growers in Sadullapur upazila of the district are expecting bumper malta production as the fruit has sprouted in abundance in the trees this year. Within few days, the fruit will become mature. The farmers are nurturing the trees as per suggestions by agriculture experts to get desired output.

The Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) sources said they adopted Second Crop Diversification Project, a gigantic one, in all the 52 upazilas including Sadullapur upazila across the country in 2010.

Under this project, a pragmatic plan was also taken to introduce the cultivation of malta, one of the high value crops, in farmers’ level of the upazila in 2013 for the first time to meet the growing demand of nutrition and help the growers earn economic solvency.

Accordingly, sub-assistant agriculture officers and officials of upazila agriculture office motivated farmers to cultivate it. In response, a total of 32 farmers of different villages including Baradaudpur, Tarafbazit, Edilpur, Chhaigari, Dhaperhat and Ghegarbazar of the upazila planted the saplings of malta so far. Earlier, the upazila agriculture office provided the saplings of the variety (BARI Malta-1) and imparted need-based training to the farmers and to make the cultivation a grand success as well.

Now, the growers are nurturing the plants to materialise their dream as per the directives of the field level agriculture officials and the officials of upazila agriculture office and the project.

Naresh Chandra, a farmer of Tarafbazit village of the upazila, said he had planted 50 saplings of malta on his land being motivated by the officials of the agriculture department. All the trees grew well on his orchard and had already bloomed massively and within a very short time these would become mature.

Expressing the satisfaction over massive sprouting in the trees, Upazila Agriculture Officer Obaidur Rahman Mondal said, “Malta is a nutritious fruit in which vitamin c is found in abundance. That is why medical experts in case of vitamin C deficiency suggest it to the patients. It can be used as a substitute of orange in squash, flavoring agents etc.”

Civil Surgeon Dr. Nirmalendu Chowdhury said malta is full of nutrients especially vitamin c and antioxidants and is rich in protopectin, bioflavonoid, glucosides, hesperidin etc. It boosts immune system and is effective against pneumonia, blood pressure, stomach and intestinal problems along with vitamin c deficiency diseases, he added.

Jiban Kumar Saha, associate professor of Botany Department at Gaibandha Govt. College, said Malta (Citrus Sinesis) is widely grown in the hills of Uttarkhand in India and many value added products like squash, candy, fruit powder, oil extract etc. are prepared from it.

“Malta peel can be powdered and used as face mask to reduce pimple, acne, wrinkles and patchy skin, while its seeds with high protein residue can be used in cattle feed and fertiliser mixtures. Malta tree wood is also useful to produce many artifacts,” he added.

Acting Deputy Director of DAE Aminul Islam said he was supervising the malta cultivation time to time and also giving inspiration to the growers so that they could make the farming a total success.

Source: The Daily Observer