CHAPTER ONE
1.0. INTRODUCTION:
1.1. BACKGROUND
Date palm (Phoenix sylvestris Roxb.) sometimes carelessly or erroneously called as khejur palm (Anon., 1987) is a very important and well-known source of sugar and is one of the most popular palms of Bangladesh (Blatter, 1978). It grows in a wide belt from the Atlantic Ocean through the Sahara, the Arabian Peninsula into Iran and Indus Valley in Pakistan with their main centers of production (Dowson, 1982). It has long been one of the most important plants of arid, desert areas of northern Africa, the Middle East and southern Asia (Hodel and Pittenger, 2003) providing food, ornament, material for shelter, fiber and fuel in a harsh environment where relatively few other plants are able to grow (Zaid, 1999). In Bangladesh, Date palm is produced over the country as a homestead crop; however, it grows naturally or is cultivated in fallow lands, around homesteads, farmland boundary and even in the marginal lands along the roads and canals. In certain parts of the southwestern region, it is cultivated in orchards by planting seedlings (Rashid, 1991). In the crop fields, the palm is found on the ails (slightly raised embankments used as border of crop fields) and also within the fields along with other crops (Abedin et al., 1991). Because of the extensive use of its juice in making sugar, it is of considerable importance for household economy in Bangladesh, where cultivation of the palm for tapping is an age-old practice (Kamaluddin et al., 1996). The palm can be tapped regularly and year after year for long time with a small amount of investment for maintenance (Blatter, 1978). Some species of Phoenix are able to produce sap all the year round but P. sylvestris Produce only seasonally. The sap of Date palm oozing out as juice is a good source of vitamins of the B group and contains, in addition, an appreciable amount of ascorbic acid, which may be consumed fresh, or after being fermented, or even distilled into spirit, or evaporated down to the crude sugar (molasses) very largely eaten in Bengal (Anon., 2000). Khejur juice based sugar industry is an ancient one in Bangladesh and such sugar was reported as largely manufactured and exported to abroad at the end of the eighteenth century.Bangladesh, being a developing country, is densely populated with above 120 million populations over a limited land area of 14.40 million hectare, giving a per capita land holding of 1.5 ha (BBS, 1997). About 85% people are living in the villages and depend mainly on agriculture and tree-based products (Bhuiyan, 1991). Since rural household income depends mainly on agriculture, landholding sizes strongly determine household economy. Due to the meager size of the landholdings, particularly rural poor households depend on tree or other plant-based economic activities in their limited space for the subsistence living (Anon., 1995).
It is hypothesized that the rural farmers of southern parts of Bangladesh are depending on extensively grown Date palm for sustenance of their livelihood. Taking this hypothesis into consideration, the present study was conducted to explore the cultivation of Date palm and its impacts on the livelihood of the rural people in Bangladesh.
1.2. RATIONALITY OF THE STUDY:
Poverty is a basic problem of rural people throughout the developing countries including Bangladesh and this problem is wider spread and complex. Rural poverty and deforestation are inter-related problems in Bangladesh, accelerated by over population, land scarcity and natural disasters. About 55.3 million people are living without food, on less than 2122 kilocalories per day (absolute poverty). The challenge facing scientists, researcher, extension workers and farmers in the next millennium is to find appropriate ways of utilizing the earth’s to feed predicted doubling of the human population while at the same time improving living standards of the rural people.
The pressure on the food supply will not only come from the increase in the population but the deterioration in the natural resources base caused by factors such as deforestation, which causes flooding or drought; burning of fossil fuels , leading to global warming; and the pollution of soil and water by the overuse of agrochemicals such as fertilizers and pesticides. The effect of deforestation are seriously in Bangladesh; the result has been a permanent fall in the lake’s water level which has been led to a reduction in the numbers of fish, a most important source of protein for the Bangladeshi population. In order to respond to these issues it has been argued that , instead of exploiting resources for production of specific commodities , it is more appropriate to match the farming system with th e available resources (preston and Leng, 1987) . the successful development of this strategy entails the identification of the cropping systems that optimize th e use of the basal resources of the sunlight , soil and water to satisfy human needs for foods , fuel, clothing and shelters. The approach takes a holistic view of human needs to include socio-cultural, economic and environmental aspects, instead of individual crop or animal productivity as a unique paradigm.The application of this approach, taking as an example the case of the palm tree, the use of which has been a traditional feature of the rural life of Bangladesh .the great economic palm in Bangladesh is Date palm (phoenix sylvetrics) , the most common palm of the southern and the cenral districts. The palm- sugar industry in an old age practice in Bangladesh.
The juice of wild palm (Phoenix sylvestrics) and palmyra palm (Borassus flabellifer) constitute favorite commercial sugar. The annual production of palm sugar is about 50, 000m tons. Wild date palm is popular for tapped sap obtained from upper system stem just bellows the crown of leaves during night of the winer session. The sugary sap of palmyra palm is tapped from the young infloresences during the day and night in the beginning of the summer session. The sweet watery sap of both of the palm species is used as popular drink. In raw sap the sugar content is about 10-20%. The day time sap is used as alcoholic drink. The fruits of both date palm and Palmyra palm are minor but popular. The indigenous today –palm and the exotic bottle palm and talipot palms the common Avenue and garden plants in Bangladesh.
1.3. OBJECTIVES:
Considering the immense importance of the Date palm in Bangladesh the study was undertaken with following objectives-
v To explore the present management system of Date Palm.
v To investigate the role of Date Palm cultivation and their socio-economic development.
