Akash Marma Monsing, Bandarban

In the hilly areas, Bandarban is just as popular in terms of tourism as it is in terms of fresh vegetables in the hills. In the hilly areas, the market in Bandarban is always full of new vegetables and fruits. This is like a formalin-free hill vegetable fruit fair.

The name of this mountain fruit is "Kera Gula" and many people call it Bandargula. In Marma language this fruit is called "Changrarai C" meaning Chang means clear, Grarai means favorite and C means fruit. It is quite popular with hill people in hilly areas.

The fruit is a wide-bodied fruit with a greenish tinge. This fruit is very tasty to eat with dried fish and raw chillies. As well as the resultant vitamin C-containing iodine. Again the fruit can be eaten raw. If you wash the fruit before eating it, it becomes sour and light. Especially in the hilly areas, various delicious dishes are made with caragula fruit. So far, Kera Gula fruit has not been cultivated in any way.

It is known that Keragula fruit is available in the market during the three months of September and November. This fruit is produced once a year. However, this result has not been cultivated in any specific way yet. At the very beginning of Zum cultivation, when we burn the hill, we spread the preserved seeds with raw chillies in Zum. After cutting the gula fruit, the fruit is ripe along with the raw chilli. It started to arrive in early September for sale in the market.

Currently near the end of this fruit. However, at the beginning of the market, the price is 500 to 600 rupees per kg. This fruit comes to the market from Roangchhari and Ruma. Later it was sent to Rangamati and Khagrachari. It has become quite popular among the Bengalis in the hill as well as in the three hill districts.

Chingnu Pru Marma, a seller in the mug market, said that the cut fruits are more popular. In the morning the market actually sells this fruit in the evening. We are selling at 150 per poya in the market. However, these fruits are not cultivated in such a way anywhere.

Another vendor, Mehlaching Marma, said the cut fruits come to market once a year. At that time a lot of people bought it. If you sell at the market in the morning, it ends in the evening. And now it is declining because these fruits are no longer available at the end of November.

Kyamong Marma, a trader, said that the keragula fruits have not been cultivated in any land till now. Only Zoom is cultivated indefinitely. These fruits come from Ruma and Roangchhari. We actually supply the fruits to Bandarban, Rangamati and Khagrachhari districts. It is very popular in hilly areas. There is also a price. When tourists actually see the new fruit, they take a lot of it. However, it is not yet known whether the land will be cultivated.

Bandarban Agricultural Extension Department Executive Officer. Omar Farooq said, it is not being cultivated at present. Even though we have seen this fruit called Kera Gula, it could not be preserved as it was not permanently seeded or cultivated. The Department of Agriculture is advised to cultivate this fruit. This fruit is basically rich in vitamin C.