In Bangladesh, farmers are increasingly tapping into a growing global market for moringa, a tree prized for its nutritional value and potential as a climate solution. The fast-growing, drought-resistant moringa (Moringa oleifera) tree is indigenous to South Asian nations such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan and widely cultivated in tropical and subtropical countries. As both the leaves and the fruits of the moringa tree are rich in nutrients, with so many minerals combining to provide both immunity-boosting and life-sustaining nutrients, researchers refer to moringa leaves as highly beneficial to the human body. A Bangladeshi entrepreneur has been working to create a social movement and entrepreneurship in moringa cultivation and marketing since 2017 and has set up producer groups for community farming, contract farming and homestead cultivation of moringa in 20 districts of Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, farmers are increasingly tapping into a growing global market for moringa, a tree prized for its nutritional value and potential as a climate solution. Image courtesy of GT Moringa. “I have been trying to make people understand the importance of moringa cultivation and its economic and health benefits since 2004. Finally, in 2017, I established a formal company to produce different products by using different parts of the moringa tree,” said Rajib Parvez Raju, the chief executive of GT Moringa. About 5,000 farmers in 20 districts from different parts of the country have planted moringa plants, and all of them are selling the leaves, which are used to produce a range of products, including…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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