Forests, Trees and Livelihoods

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SAP PRODUCTION FROM KHEJUR PALM (PHOENIX

SYLVESTRIS ROXB) HUSBANDRY: A SUBSTANTIAL
MEANS OF SEASONAL LIVELIHOOD IN RURAL
BANGLADESH

MD. ABDUL HALIM , MOHAMMAD SHAHEED HOSSAIN CHOWDHURY , NUR

MUHAMMED , MOSTAFIZUR RAHMAN & MASAO KOIKE

To cite this article: MD. ABDUL HALIM , MOHAMMAD SHAHEED HOSSAIN CHOWDHURY ,
NUR MUHAMMED , MOSTAFIZUR RAHMAN & MASAO KOIKE (2008) SAP PRODUCTION FROM
KHEJUR PALM (PHOENIX SYLVESTRIS ROXB) HUSBANDRY: A SUBSTANTIAL MEANS OF SEASONAL
LIVELIHOOD IN RURAL BANGLADESH, Forests, Trees and Livelihoods, 18:3, 305-318, DOI:
10.1080/14728028.2008.9752638

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/14728028.2008.9752638

Published online: 04 Apr 2012.

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Forests, Trees and Livelihoods, 2008, Vol. 18, pp. 305-318
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RESEARCH PAPER

SAP PRODUCTION FROM KHEJUR PALM (PHOENIX

SYLVESTRIS ROXB) HUSBANDRY: A SUBSTANTIAL
MEANS OF SEASONAL LIVELIHOOD IN RURAL
BANGLADESH

MD. ABDUL HALIM 1, MOHAMMAD SHAHEED HOSSAIN CHOWDHURY2*,

NUR MUHAMMED2 , MOSTAFIZUR RAHMAN' AND MASAO KOIKE2
1Department of Forestry, School of Agriculture and Mineral Science, Shahjalal University of
Science and Technology, Sylhet-3114, Bangladesh.
2Forest Policy Laboratory, Department of Forest Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Shinshu
University, 8304 Minamiminow-Mura, Nagana-Ken, 399-4598 Japan.

ABSTRACT

An exploratory study was conducted in Chuadanga, a southwestern district of Bangladesh to

explore the status and potential of Khejur palm (Phoenix sylvestris Roxb.) husbandry in the rural
economy. A total of 36 households in three villages of the district were interviewed using a semi-
structured questionnaire. The farmers were categorized into five groups as landless, marginal, small,
medium and large on the basis of their land holdings. The palm was distributed over seven different
geographical sites of which orchards supported the most (20%). The farmers of medium category
owned the most palms (33%) and the landless the fewest (4%), but most of the palms (29%) were
managed by the landless category. Palms 7-14 years old growing in the agricultural fields and ails
produced most sap (2500ml, on average each night). The large category farmers realized the highest
average seasonal income from the palm products (Taka 1 38,135.00), but the relative contribution
to income from palm products was the highest (78%) among the landless farmers. Khejur palm
husbandry could be a promising source of rural incomes in Bangladesh if the farmers' indigenous
technology was linked to more scientific management practices.

Key words: agroforestry, exudates, farmers; molasses; orchards, sap, tappers

INTRODUCTION

Khejur palm (Phoenix sylvestris Roxb.) sometimes called the date 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). People prefer the Khejur sap
based sugar to that of sugarcane, especially for the preparation of special food

'Bangladeshi currency units; I US$ = 68 Bangladeshi Taka

*Author for all correspondence: E-mail: shaheedfeni @yahoo.com
Manuscript received 27 .11.06; accepted after revision 20.10.07
306 HALIM ET AL.

items during various festivals (Islam and Miah, 2004; Ahmed, 2007). P. sylvestris
grows in a wide belt from the Atlantic Ocean. through the Sahara, the Arabian
Peninsula into Iran and the Indus Valley in Pakistan (Dawson, 1982), and is
one of the most important plants of arid 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, Khejur palm grows naturally or is cultivated in fallow lands,
around homesteads, farmland boundaries and along the roads and canals (Anon.
2000). 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 to mark the borders of fields) and also
within the fields along with other crops (Abedin and Quddus, 1991). Because
of the use of its sap in making sugar, it is of considerable importance for the
household economy in Bangladesh, where cultivation of the palm for tapping is
an age-old practice (Kamaluddin et al., 1996). Khejur palm cultivation has been
gaining renewed importance in the country because of the increasing population,
scarcity of land and rising demand for food and other essentials (Ahmed, 1997).
The palm can be tapped year after year over a long period with a small amount
of investment for its maintenance (Blatter, 1978). Some species of Phoenix are
able to produce sap all the year round but P. sylvestris produces only seasonally.
The date palm sap stores the bulk of its reserve of photosynthetically produced
carbohydrates in the form of sucrose in solution in the vascular bundles of its
trunk. When the central growing point or upper part of the trunk is incised the
palm sap exudes as a fresh clear juice (FAO, 2007; BIOPACT, 2007). The sap
of Khejur palm is a good source of vitamins of the B group and contains, in
addition, variable amount of ascorbic acid (Anon., 2000). According to FAO
(2007), freshly harvested sap consists of sucrose around 10%, minimal invert
sugar of <0.5% and small amount of protein, gums and minerals. The sap can
either be consumed fresh or evaporated down to the crude sugar (molasses), or
fermented, or distilled, (Anon., 2000; Anon., 2007; Islam and Miah, 2004).
Al-Farsi (2003) researched date sap clarification to produce a high quality
syrup with a view to utilizing a low quality variety of dates. The Khejur sap
based sugar industry is ancient in Bangladesh and such sugar was manufactured
and exported at the end of the eighteenth century. Such cottage industries are
still prevailing in the Khejur growing regions of the country where not only the
farmers are getting monetary benefits, but many others are directly involved.
Islam and Miah (2004) found that pan-makers, potters, blacksmiths, traders,
rickshaw & van pullers and fuel wood pickers were the secondary beneficiaries
of Khejur palm husbandry at Mirsharai of Chittagong, Bangladesh.
Bangladesh has a population of around 140 million in a land area of 14.40
million hectares, giving a per capita land holding of 0.1 ha (BBS, 2002). About
85% are living in the villages and depend mainly on agriculture and tree-based
products (Bhuiyan, 1991). Since rural household incomes depend mainly on
agriculture, landholdings determine the household economy. The rural poor
 SAP PRODUCTION FROM KHEJUR PALM HUSBANDRY 307

households particularly depend on tree or other plant-based economic activities

for their subsistence (GOB, 1995). The rural farmers of southwestern Bangladesh
depend upon Khejur palm husbandry for their seasonal livelihoods. The present
study explores the status and impact of Khejur palm husbandry and its socio-
economic contribution to rural Bangladesh.

METHODOLOGY

Study site

The study was conducted in Chuadanga (Figure l), a southwestern district

of Bangladesh with an area of 1,157.42 sq km. It consists of four upazillas
(sub-districts) namely Chuadanga Sadar, Damurhuda, Alamdanga, and
Jibannagar. The annual average maximum temperature is 37.1°C and minimum

Figure 1. Map of Chuadanga district showing the study areas.

308 HALIM ET AL.

is 11.2°C with an annual average rainfall of 1467 mm. The region is within the
Gangetic delta with a network of the Mathabhanga, Bhairab, Kumar, Chitra,
and Nabaganga rivers. The area has a physiography of mixed highland, shallow
flooded and deeply flooded strata. The soils are alluvia, stream deposits, delta
plain deposits and flood plain deposits. The district supports a population of
987,382 with a literacy rate of 28.7%. Most of the peoples are peasants having
cultivable land averaging only 0.11 hectares (Ahmed, 2004).

Methods

The district was chosen because it is a representative site of the Khejur palm
husbandry. Among the four upazillas, Jibannagar was selected because most of
the Khejur palms of the district are concentrated there. From the upazilla, three
villages producing Khejur palm abundantly were selected at random:- one from
the northeastern, one from the southwestern and the other from the middle of
the upazilla so that the findings reflect the whole upazilla. A preliminary socio-
economic survey was carried out to ascertain the important socio-economic
parameters of the study areas and to select the respondents for detailed study.
The three villages were visited using a structured questionnaire worked out
in advance and pre-tested for intelligibility. After this preliminary survey, the
socio-economic parameters of potential value for the study were chosen and
cross-checked:- the land holdings, occupations, Khejur palm possession, land
for homesteads and for other uses like agriculture or fallow. Then, at each of
the three villages, peasants involved in the Khejur palm husbandry were listed
and 10% from them were selected randomly for interview. As Khejur palm
husbandry is a function of land holding, the farmers were categorized into five
groups - landless possessing less than 0.21 ha., marginal possessing 0.21 - 0.50
ha., small possessing 0.51 - 1.00 ha., medium possessing 1.01 - 2.00 ha., and
large possessing more than 2.00 ha. of land, respectively. Again, a 10% sampling
intensity was applied to select at random the respondents from each category.
Ultimately, this provided a total of 36 households selected for the study.
A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect the information in
interviews with the household heads in their respective farm categories. However,
some adjustments to the questionnaire were made in the field to accommodate the
local terms and indigenous methods, and observations and field demonstrations
by the farmers.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Socio-economic and demographic features of the farmers

The total member of the thirty-six households surveyed was 290. The average
family size and average earnings were eight and four, respectively. The literacy
 SAP PRODUCTION FROM KHEJUR PALM HUSBANDRY 309

rate of the study households was 13%. Table 1 shows the importance of farm
size, large farmers having larger households and higher incomes than those with
less land.
Agriculture was the major occupation of the farmers in the study area.
However, for the landless and marginal categories, Khejur palm husbandry was an
important source of income (60% and 20%, respectively) but to those with more
land was less important. The total land holdings, the amount of operational land
(which are used for agriculture or other income generating activities) and mean
homestead area varied considerably among the farmers. However, the possession
of operational land had little relation to the annual income of the household,
particularly of the landless, marginal and small categories. Householders in these
categories are mostly the Khejur palm tappers who earn substantial incomes
from the palms grown on the land of the richer groups.

Distribution of Khejur palm

Seven different sites were observed to be the habitat of Khejur palms in the
study area, with

• canal banks, 6%
• road sides, 10%
• homesteads, 19%
• ails, 15%
• agricultural fields, 14%
• pond banks, 15% and
• orchards, 21%

In all the cases, the dominating age-classes were >7-14 years and > 14-21
years. Similar data were recorded by Islam and Miah (2003) in Mirsharai of
Bangladesh where they found the highest number of palms (32.53%) under the

TABLE I

Socio-economic and demographic features of the farmers in the study area

Primary Secondary Mean

Average Average occupation (%) occupation (%) annual
Household family earning income
category size member Agriculture Khejur Khejur Others (Taka)

Landless 6.4 2 40 60 40 42,838

Marginal 8.2 3.2 50 20 40 76749
Small 7.4 4 67 30 30 89,109
Medium 8.5 4.3 75 50 25 112,551
Large 10.2 4.6 75 50 25 143,735
Average 8.1 3.6
310 HALIM ET AL.

7-14 years age class. The palms located by the roadside are legally under the
jurisdiction of the District Commissioner (DC) and those who want to harvest
these palms should get permission from the DC to do so. However the tappers
usually avoid these palms due to the bureaucratic complexity of obtaining the
tapping permit.

Ownership and management pattern of Khejur palms

Tables 2, 3 and Figures 2, 3 summarise and illustrate the data collected on the
ownership and management of Khejur palms in the area. Whilst most palms are
owned by the larger farmers, most are leased to and managed by those with less
land. Most leasing agreements are based on sharing the sap produced, but a third
of the agreements are based on sharing the molasses produced from that sap.
Leasing based on money payments are very much less common.

TABLE 2

Harvesting patterns of Khejur palm in the study area

Khejur palm harvesting pattern

Household Own tree Own tree Leased tree Total palm

category (Self (Leased to tapping managed
tapping tapper)

Landless 61 14 517 578

Marginal 180 120 311 491
Small 147 213 226 373
Medium 311 369 110 421
Large 152 448 152
Total 851 (42%) 1,164 (58%) 1,164 (58%) 2,015

Figure 2. Khejur palms owned by different categories

 SAP PRODUCTION FROM KHEJUR PALM HUSBANDRY 311

TABLE 3

Sharing pattern of Khejur palm in tapping season in the study area

Household Sap sharing Molasses sharing Money contract

category (Tree leased by) (Tree leased by) (Tree leased by)

Ll. Mr. Sm. Md. Ll. Mr. Sm. Md. Ll. Mr. Sm. Md.

Landless 14
Marginal 50 31 20 19
Small 39 52 19 54 27 19 3
Medium 113 56 17 20 63 25 25 25 25
Large 107 23 58 27 41 27 39 29 16 23 24 34
Total 626 (54%) 388 (33%) 150 (13%)

Note: Ll. = Landless; Mr. = Marginal; Sm. = Small and Md. = Medium.

uo Landless
EISmall
~Marginal

1m Medium
mLarge

Figure 3. Khejur palms managed by different household categories

Tapping and sap production

References to palm tapping dates back to Plinius (Darby et al., 1977). Tapping
of the palms for sap production starts from mid October and continues to mid
March - approximately 150 days in the winter season (whereas it was from
November to February in India for the same palm (Anon., 2007)) Palms are
prepared for tapping over two weeks and then tapped for three days and rested
for three days. Tapping starts with a time consuming and skillful operation that,
if done badly, can result in the death of the palm. Usually palms of more than
5 years are selected for tapping when their woody stem attains a height of at
least 2 feet. The equipment used for tapping was a dao (a sharp iron cutting
device with a large thin blade), a chisel, a bamboo basket used for carrying the
instruments, rope, earthen jars etc.
312 HALIM ET AL.

Figure 4. Features of tapping a Khejur palm.

Figure 5. Features of tapping a Khejur palm.

 SAP PRODUCTION FROM KHEJUR PALM HUSBANDRY 313

Figure 6. Features of tapping a Khejur palm.

In this study, the tapping operation started at the onset of winter with a series
of pruning usually - 3 to 4 times. A palm having at least 2 feet woody trunk
was needed for tapping, leaving 1 foot below the tapped zone. 6 days after the
last pruning, the palm was scratched with the dao and chisel making narrow and
shallow scrapes down the upper portion of the trunk. On the 7th day, a tapping
channel was cut and a spout of 4 inches wide was inserted into the freshly cut
trunk and the other end fixed into an earthen jar fastened just below the spout.
The jar was put in place in the evening and left until very early in the next
morning. This repeated twice, the quantity collected diminishing each night. The
scratching of the trunk is renewed every 7th day providing the palm a resting
period of 3 days. Tappers reported the possibility of reducing sap production,
molasses quality and death of the palm if it was not given the resting period of
3 days.
Palms aged 7-14 years growing in the agricultural fields and in the ails
produced the most sap (2500ml, on an average, each night - Table 4 ). Though
the data recorded that palms growing in the homesteads, ails and agricultural
fields yield same amount of sap, the farmers claimed that palms growing in
the ails produced the most sap: this was not supported by the data collected in
this short study period. Most of the sap was produced by the landless farmers
(nearly 30% of total sap production) and most of the yielded sap (nearly 60%)
was obtained by the tappers (Table 5). A similar situation was described by
Islam and Miah (2004) in Mirsharai of Bangladesh where they found 70% of
the palms were tapped by tapper households and the remainders by the owner
households.
The sap was distributed to the owners according to the agreements. In monetary
contracts, the money was paid by the tappers to the owners at the beginning of
314 HALIM ETAL

TABLE 4

Total sap productions by different aged palms on different sites in every 3 nights

Production of sap (ml)/3 nights

Sites Age classes (Years)

>5-7 >7-14 >14--21 >21-28 >28

Canal Bank 3,900 6,000 4,950 4,950 3900

Road Side 3,600 5,700 4,800 4,800 3,600
Homestead 4,500 6,750 6,000 6,000 4,500
Ails 4,500 7,500 6,450 6,450 4,500
Agricultural field 4,500 7,500 6,450 6,450 4,500
Pond Bank 3,900 6,000 4,950 4,950 3,900
Orchard 4,200 6,600 5,850 5,850 4,200

TABLE 5

Total seasonal sap productions by different households in the study area

Household Sap Production (Litres)

Category

Own palm+ Leased palm + Total

Self-tapping Self-tapping

Landless 7.493 70,224 77,717 (29%)

Marginal 23,942 41,566 65,507(25%)
Small 18,102 29,642 47,744 (18%)
Medium 40,237 14,835 55,072 (21%)
Large 20,179 20,179 (7%)
Total 109,953 (41 %) 156,267 (59%) 266,220 (100%)

the season. In molasses-sharing contracts, the yield of molasses was calculated

using a conversion of 6 litres of sap = I kg of molasses (Thumb rule), though in
practice tappers usually manufacture the molasses and render the agreed portion
to the owners. (The conversion was used by the owners to check whether the
tappers had given them the correct amount. A similar conversion was given in
BIOPACT (2007) where an average outtum of jaggery is 10-15% of the weight
of the raw sap.
An estimate of the money earned per season by the farmers is shown in
Table 6.

Marketing of Khejur palm products

Some juice was sold directly as a drink, some is used for manufacturing molasses
and the rest was used for manufacturing Tari (an indigenousalcoholic beverage).
A portion of molasses was further used for manufacturing Patali that is a kind
 SAP PRODUCTION FROM KHEJUR PALM HUSBANDRY 315

TABLE 6

Khejur palm products and money earned from different sharing bases

Household Sap obtained (litres) Molasses Money

category obtained earned @Tk
From sap From Total sap (From 50- 50/palm/season
sharing (50- money 50 sharing)
50 sharing) contract kg#.
category

Landless
n=5 28,803 2,024 30,827 1,409 -800
Marginal
n=10 39,305 6,463 45,768 1,084 -2550
Small
n=9 31,051 6,210 37,261 1,452 -2300
Medium
n=8 56,245 4,301 60,546 1,124 +800
Large
n=4 33,772 33,772 1,078 + 4,850
Total 189176 18998 208174 6147 Balanced

Note: A negative sign indicates that farmers of the respective category had to pay and a positive
sign indicates that farmers of the respective category had earned these amounts from the palms
rented and leased, respectively. (Because the farmers of the landless, marginal and small categories
pay money to the owners of the palms that they tap under lease. The same amount of money is
earned by the farmers of the medium and large categories who lease out their palms to the farmers
of the other categories.). #kg: = Kilogram.

PRODUCTION OF
SECONDARY
GOODS, e.g. TARI,
MOLASSES, etc.

I
I SAP L
I ~SHARING~ !MIDDLE MAN!

-1MARKET

Figure 7. Marketing channels of different products of Khejur palm.

of solid molasses. The farmers claimed that the manufacturing of Tari was the
most profitable business, but the restriction limits the production.
Most of the sap (2740 litres) and Tari (225 litres) were reported to be sold by
the landless farmers; molasses ( 1107.5 kg) by the farmers of the large category
and Patali (253 kg) by the farmers of the medium category. The medium and
large land holding category farmers were neither involved in selling sap directly
nor in manufacturing Tari.
316 HALIM ET AL.

TABLE 7

Total seasonal income (Tk) generated from Khejur palm products in the study area

Household Sap selling Molasses Patali Tari Money Total

Category selling selling selling earned income
(from leasing)

Landless
n= 5 61,650 61,938 28,368 15,750 -800 166,906
Marginal
n= 10 71,469 79,893 40,500 25,662 -2,550 214,974
Small
n= 9 50,670 82,890 41,400 16,870 -2,300 189,530
Medium
n= 8 173,988 72,900 +800 247,688
Large
n= 4 119,610 28,080 + 4,850 152,540

Note: The price of each product has been determined according to the local market (January
2006)

Seasonal income from Khejur palm products

The landless farmers earned nearly 80% of their income from palm products, but
this figure fell to around 25% for the other categories. The landless were those
who not only manage their own palms, but also leased and tapped palms owned
by the richer groups and, thus, had more Khejur products for sale. All categories
of farmers earned a considerable portion of their income from the selling of
molasses (Table 7). The seasonal income from selling different Khejur products
was highest (nearly Tk. 2 250,000) for the farmers of the medium category and
lowest (approximately Tk. 150,000) for the farmers of the large category. Though
the production of Tari was on a small scale, the farmers were reported to get a
substantial amount of money from its sales. Owing to its ambiguous legal status,
the data for this product may underestimate its role in the rural economy. The
landless farmers were found to earn the highest amount (nearly 80%) of their
mean annual income from the Khejur palm husbandry (Table 8).

CONCLUSION

The study established that the seasonal income of the farmers from Khejur
palm husbandry is a significant portion of their mean annual income and plays
an important role in the livelihoods in southwestern rural Bangladesh. Richer
people with land for agriculture have a variety of income sources but the poor

2Bangladeshi currency unit; I U$ = 68 Bangladeshi Taka

 SAP PRODUCTION FROM KHEJUR PALM HUSBANDRY 317

TABLE 8

Contribution of income from Kbejur palm husbandry

in mean annual income of the farmers

Household Average income Mean annual % of their mean

Category obtained from income (Tk.) annual income

Landless 33,381 42,838 78

Marginal 21,497 76,749 28
Small 21,059 89,109 24
Medium 30,961 112,551 28
Large 38,135 143,735 27

people are mostly dependent on the palm for its seasonal income. Even though
the landless farmers have little agricultural production, they can easily earn
a handsome amount by the management of both the own and leased palms.
Thus, Khejur palm husbandry plays a vital role in supporting rural people in
this particular region. Besides, Khejur palms can also help to meet the demand
for tree cover in the country. However, there is alarming news that Khejur palm
is starting to be used as the fuel for the burgeoning brick kilns in the country
(Ahmed, 2007). So it might be the time to think about the species serving
dual purposes: production of multiple goods for rural livelihoods in one hand
and enrichment of biodiversity with environmental amelioration on the other.
Therefore, scientific management with collaboration of the farmers' indigenous
knowledge is to be ensured confronting to the principles of the Palm Action Plan
launched by IUCN for the conservation and sustainable use of Khejur palm.

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