Bangladesh has started importing drumstick, a vegetable locally known as Shajna, from India considering its quite good demand and price across the country.
The import is being made through the Hili Land Port in Dinajpur, a district that borders the neighbouring country.
Hili Land Port Public Relations Officer Sohrab Hossain said, “It has started for a week with an import of two mini truckloads of drumstick each day.
“No drumstick import has even happened through this port,” he said, claiming that it might be the first time that this popular vegetable is being imported from India.
Messrs Khan Traders is importing the drumstick vegetable.
Proprietor of the importing firm Harun-or-Rashid said, “We are importing the vegetable taking in view of its good demand and price all over the country. We supply it to different places across the country, including Dhaka, Rangpur, Dinajpur and Bogra.”
He said, “Each kg of Indian drumstick import costs Tk 20 inclusive (of customs bills, while it is now selling at Tk 100 per kg, as against Tk 150 to 160 at the start of the season.”
According to Harun, also president of the Hilli Land Port Importers-Exporters Group, the import will stop by a week or so as it will no longer yield good profits by that time, with local varieties of the vegetable hitting the markets and thus pulling down the price drastically, local media reports say.
Consumption of drumstick has huge health benefits due to its richness in calcium, mineral salt, iron, protein, carbohydrate and some vitamins.
As for its other reason of huge demand among people, it has been being used since ancient times as an herbal medicine for treating, stomach problems, high blood pressure and heart disease, among many ailments.