Aloe vera, a plant with herbal qualities

Badsha Miah, a small farmer of Dulalia village in Ghatail upazila under Tangail, now leads a somewhat solvent life with his six-member family by cultivating aloe vera, a medicinal plant, on a piece of land adjacent to his house.

Earlier he cultivated paddy on the same land but it did not bring that much profit.

Badsa collected 20,000 aloe vera saplings from Sherpur and Natore for Tk 40,000 and planted those on his 30 decimals of land in 2012.

"Bangla months of Baishakh and Jaishtha (mid-April to mid-June) are the best time to plant aloe vera and yield of leaves starts after 18 months of plantation. Moreover, each plant gives six to seven saplings as transformed trunk," said Badsa.

"The aloe vera leaves are thick and fleshy and I can harvest 30 to 35 maunds of leaves from the 20,000 plants in a month. I sell the leaves to the traders of Karwan Bazar in the capital at Tk 800 per maund.  

"The business brings me Tk 15,000 to Tk 20,000 a month, after covering Tk 5,000 as production cost," he said.

Abdul Khalek of Prabari in Tangail was found selling aloe vera juice to the people at Charabari Bazar for Tk 10 a glass.

"Earlier working as a handloom worker in other's factory I struggled to maintain my four-member family with the little income. Seeing a hawker earning well by selling aloe vera, I started farming the medicinal plant on my 10 decimals of land adjacent to my house four years ago.

"I started selling its juice two years ago. People like to take it with hope to cure different diseases including costiveness and skin and urinary problems. Now I can earn Tk 300 to Tk 400 a day by selling the juice," he added.

Aloe vera leaves are used in producing cosmetics and medicines, said Mohammad Osman Gani, sub-assistant agriculture officer in Tangail Sadar upazila. 

The cultivation of the plant can create employment opportunity for the youth, he added.

Aloe vera is a tonic for human immune system and helps to fight illness in general, herbal doctors said.

Various research studies are underway to explore the potential of the aloe vera components to boost immunity and fight the HIV virus, treat certain types of cancer (particularly leukemia), and manage diabetes, they said.

Doctors, however, suggest taking aloe vera as per suggestion of the authorised medical practitioners to avoid risk.