Aloe vera on 8.5 acres, 10–12 tonnes a day to one export processor

Kholabaria village in Natore produces 14,140 tonnes of aloe vera a year, says the district Department of Agricultural Extension. According to a report in The Business Standard, a farmer in the village grows aloe vera on about 8.5 acres of land and sends 10–12 tonnes of leaves a day to Taiwan Food Processing Industries in Bhaluka, Mymensingh. He said the company buys leaves all year round at Tk 7–13 a kg depending on quality. According to the report, aloe vera needs little water and care, and one bigha yields about 30,000 kg of leaves; once planted, leaves can be cut every month and the same plants give a crop year after year. The monsoon is the main cutting season. The factory buys about 20 tonnes of leaves a day, most of it from Kholabaria; it extracts the gel, cans it and exports it to Taiwan, Japan, the United Arab Emirates and Europe. An official of the company said that in the country only street sherbet sellers use aloe vera gel, and apart from that there is almost no demand at home. In other words, this grower's main market depends on a single exporting factory, and during the pandemic the company could send products only to Taiwan and China.