Three months after shutting his mill in Bagerhat's BSCIC Industrial Area, Chayan Kundu reopened it, hoping the coconuts he had gathered would keep the machines running a while longer.
At its peak, his mill employed 30 to 40 workers a day. But today, it runs with just one.
"Once these coconuts are crushed, it will close again," he said.
Kundu built the mill 15 years ago with his savings and bank loans. Now, it survives in fits and starts.
"If we find coconuts somewhere, we will reopen after two or three months. This is how the mill is barely surviving," he said, adding that 20 to 25 other oil mills in the industrial area face the same cycle.
Kundu's mill is a symptom of a wider crisis. A whitefly infestation has torn through Bagerhat's coconut plantations, threatening to wipe out a district industry built around the fruit.
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A closed down coconut oil mill in Bagerhat wears deserted look. Photo: Collected
The cotton-like pest settles under coconut leaves and feeds on their sap, causing the leaves to weaken, yellow and dry out, said Md Motahar Hossain, deputy director of the Bagerhat Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE).
This cuts the tree's capacity to bear fruit. The whitefly also secretes a sticky substance that fosters black fungus, blocking sunlight and weakening the trees further.
DAE figures show the scale of the decline. Bagerhat has over 10 lakh coconut trees, most of them infested with whitefly. Cultivation now spans 3,678 hectares, yielding 33,601 tonnes.
Over the past decade, the cultivation area has fallen by about 150 hectares and production by nearly 1,000 tonnes, the data shows.
Md Sharif Sarder, an officer at the BSCIC Industrial Area, said the area once had around 20 coconut oil factories. With local supply shrinking, mill owners now bring coconuts from outside the district, and rising transport costs have pushed many factories into crisis. Some have already shifted to other trades.
For growers, the toll is personal.
Abul Hossain Khan of Sangdiya village in Kachua upazila once supported his family by selling coconuts and betel nuts from his 350 trees.
"Now, because of these white insects, coconuts are not growing at all, and the leaves are drying up," he said.
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Bagerhat has over 10 lakh coconut trees, most of them infested with whitefly. Photo: Star
Sohan Sheikh, another Kachua grower with over 100 trees, said all of his have been hit. Rats climbing the trees to cut down coconuts have compounded the damage, he said.
"Bagerhat is famous for coconuts and betel nuts, but if no action is taken now, this sector will be destroyed."
Trader Tarapada Saha recalled households once selling 500 to 1,000 coconuts two or three times a year. Now, some trees have died, and yields from the rest have fallen sharply, driving up prices and hurting his trade.
Motahar Hossain said the DAE has formally demanded a Bagerhat Coconut and Betel Nut Research Centre, an appeal now before higher authorities.
In the current situation, the department has been advising farmers to use different pesticides and sprays to control the whitefly infestation, but the efforts have so far produced little result, he said.
"Advanced research is needed to find an effective way to prevent and control this pest. We have demanded the establishment of a Bagerhat Coconut and Betel Nut Research Centre from the higher authorities to address these diseases and pests," he said.
