From 5 kg of fruit to 50,000 coffee plants: coffee for 100+ farmers on the Garo hills, roasted coffee at Tk 2,000 a kg
In Nalitabari, Sherpur an agriculturist left his job and began raising coffee seedlings in 2021, giving 50,000 free to farmers over four years. One farmer sold about 500 kg of fruit from 800 plants for Tk 75,000.
Coffee is now grown in 22 border villages of Nalitabari and Jhenaigati in Sherpur and Haluaghat in Mymensingh. According to the Prothom Alo report, over 100 farmers have planted about 50,000 coffee plants. The main entrepreneur is an agriculturist from Nalitabari who was inspired by coffee farming he saw in Ruma, in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, while working as an agriculture officer. In 2021 he gathered five kg of coffee fruit and began raising seedlings himself, then left his job to focus fully on coffee. Seedlings are now raised all year on 12 acres of his own land. After seven months in polybags a seedling is 6 to 7 inches tall; one costs Tk 20 to raise, and plants bear fruit within three years of planting. In the past four years he has given 50,000 plants free to interested farmers. His firm collects fruit from the farmers. One farmer planted about 800 coffee seedlings in 2022 between the malta trees on about two acres; this year they bore fruit and he sold about 500 kg for Tk 75,000. Six kg of fresh fruit gives one kg of parchment bean, which gives 850 g of roasted bean. A packed one kg of roasted coffee sells for Tk 2,000 at coffee shops in Mymensingh, Dinajpur, Bogura, Cox's Bazar, Sreemangal and Dhaka.
Lessons
- 1.Coffee takes about three years after planting to bear fruit, so budget for that wait.
- 2.Planting coffee in the gaps of a malta orchard earned extra income from the same land.
- 3.Processed and roasted coffee fetches far more per kg than raw fruit, though weight drops sharply (6 kg of fruit gives 1 kg of bean).
We published this with the person's permission, without revealing who they are.
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