AGAR TREE CULTIVATION AND ITS ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE: A CASE STUDY OF MOULVIBAZAR DISTRICT

Abstract

Agar tree (Aquilaria malacensis) is the resinous, fragrant and highly valuable heartwood under Thymelaceae family.The study was conducted at Baralekha upazila in Moulvibazar district during the month of February-December, 2016 to determine the existing cultivation practices, plantation profitability and, problems of Agar tree. Forty agar cultivators were selected randomly for agar processors and agar tree chips/oil traders from three villages of Barlekha in Moulvibazar were randomly selected for the above purposes. Data were collected through direct interview of individual respondents. SPSS Computer package program 16.0 was used to analyze the data. The number of trees in homestead of the farmers ranged from 0 to 500 with an average 68. About 30% of the respondent farmers sold total Agar garden and 70% did not. The farmers who does not sell garden directly, among them 21.43% is involved in raw wooding, 64.29% is involved in processing atar and 14.29% is involved in both raw and processed. Two marketing channels are prevalent in the study area. About 64% of the farmers sell agar trees before artificial wounding, by agreement between the agar farmers and the agar-based enterprise owners. About 36% of the farmers sell agar trees after artificial wounding. Agar tree dust was mainly used as a by-product for the raw materials of agar production. The profitability of Agar production (raw) revealed that the discounted benefit cost ratio (6.55), and the internal rate of return (30%). So Agar tree production was found to be the most desirable and highly profitable.