Saudi Arabia’s dates are world-famous. Every year, India imports dates of various quality and types, including Megjul and Ajwa. A Bengal farmer named Hamid, who is successfully growing Arabian dates, also sees the opportunity to make profits by selling saplings.
As a hobby, he brought date seeds from Saudi Arabia through the Hajids. First, he planted a few palm trees. But he did not expect that the dates would yield so much. After a few years, the trees bore palms. Since then, date palms have been grown commercially.
Abdul Hamid Mondal, a farmer from the Sundarbans area of Basirhat in North 24 Parganas, West Bengal, an automobile mechanic by profession, made the date palms as a hobby and received a positive response in the area as soon as the fruits came.
Then, along with the fruits, he also started collecting seeds from these fruits and planted around 250 to 300 trees. Abdul Hamid Mondal is already able to sell these saplings in bulk. He claims that if the government supports him, he will sell these palms at a very low price and spread them all over West Bengal in the next few days. The locals, who are happy about the success of Abdul Hamid Mandal, also welcome this initiative of Abdul Hamid, who is struggling through extreme poverty.
Another Indian farmer has decided to grow Megjul and Ajwa on his land instead of importing. Gopal Mondal, a farmer from Katwa, has erected a date’s garden on his two-bigha lands near Ajay River. While some trees already started to grow dates, some still only have flowers.
“Katwa Sub-division Agriculture Officer Praloy Ghosh assured me that he will help with cultivation. But I have not got any help as yet. I am thinking of going to Gujarat and Rajasthan later,” Mondal said.
“Now the species of Saudi Arabian dates are being cultivated in India also. Many farmers have started palm cultivation by bringing seeds or saplings from Gujarat. These dates are also in high demand due to their nutritional value,” he added.
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