Bumper grapefruit yield in Moulvibazar

Located about 15 kilometers from the Juri upazila headquarters, the village of Paschim Kachurgul lies in Gualbari union, right along the Indian border as there has been bumper yield of grapefruit this year.

The road to Paschim Kachurgul branches off from the paved Juri-Latitila road; it is a mix of brick-paved and unpaved sections.

On both sides of the road, green hills-some small, some large-catch the eye, with houses perched atop them.

On the slopes of these hills, pomelo trees are laden with fruit; in many cases, the branches have bowed under the weight of the harvest.

Some locals have even established orchards featuring various types of fruit trees across these hills. Among these Fruits such as pomelo, Malta orange, and regular oranges are found here.

The Patharia Hill forest region spans across the Gualbari and Purba Juri unions of Juri, extending to the border of the neighboring Barlekha upazila. This forest serves as a natural boundary between Bangladesh and India.

A portion of the Patharia Hill forest-known as the Latitila Reserved Forest-is located within the Gualbari union of Juri. As social forestry initiatives expanded within the forest, the number of pomelo trees gradually declined.

Subsequently, local residents began cultivating the fruit in nearby settlements using seeds.

According to the Upazila Agriculture Office Md. Mahmudul Alam Khan, pomelos are being cultivated around homesteads and on the hilly lands (tila-bari) of various villages in Juri upazila, including Hayachhara, Shuknachhara, Jamkandi, Durgapur, Gobindapur, Binodpur, Lalchhara, Rupachhara, Lathitila, Domabari, Kuchairtal, Kachurgul, and Putichhara.