Sylhet’s citrus fruit farming in decline

Dear Sir

Sylhet is well-known for mainly two products- tea and citrus. In the greater Sylhet region, citrus fruits are mainly grown in  the hilly areas of the Sylhet and Moulvibazar districts. The different varieties of citrus fruits like Ada Jamir, Shatkora, Jara lebu, Sweet lime , key lime etc. have gained popularity not only in Sylhet but also all over the country.

But now citrus cultivation has been on the decline due to a number of factors like increase in production cost, decline in soil fertility, reduction of hilly land and also due to fruit dropping.
Citrus fruit shortage is also managed by adopting some cultural management practices. Pruning of citrus trees is very much helpful for improving fruit production, growth and leads to higher yield. All the pruned branches are collected and destroyed by burning. The best time for pruning citrus trees is during the months of January to February.

Moreover, fruit flies and fruit sucking moths are the most important insect pests which are responsible for fruit dropping in citrus. In this case, clean cultivation and removal and destruction of fruit fly infested fruits are most important.

Syeda Sajeda  Khasru  Nisha
Student, Faculty of Agriculture
Sylhet Agricultural University