Over Tk 10 lakh spent on 1,000 agar trees; 18 years on, none sold and only 230 left

From 2007 to 2011, under the Forest Department's social forestry project, 443 hectares of agar plantation were planted in Kaptai National Park, Rangamati. A tea-stall owner planted a plot there on 2 hectares (5 acres) of land. According to a Mongabay report, he has spent more than Tk 10 lakh on the plantation and planted more than a thousand agar trees. Agar trees on forest land can be sold only through open auction or sealed tender; under the rules, they should be ready for nailing after eight years. Yet his plantation is 18 years old and there has still been no auction. In his words, the trees could have been cut 12 years ago; in the meantime many trees have died in storms and fires, and now 230 survive, of which the Forest Department has marked 170 for nailing. Because labour is expensive he clears the undergrowth himself, and for that he has to keep his shop closed, where there could have been Tk 2,500–3,000 of sales a day. A prospective buyer from Moulvibazar has offered Tk 20,000 per tree, but he is hoping for a higher price. Although the Rangamati Forest Department called for tenders in March 2026, the auction had still not taken place. The industry owners' association says that because of the cost of taking the wood to factories in Moulvibazar, a very high price cannot be paid for raw agar.