Jumbangla Desk: When the market is in turmoil over the price of chicken eggs, at the same time, ant eggs are being sold at the rate of Tk 1500 per kg. People in this profession are struggling to supply ant eggs due to huge demand. Therefore, the egg collectors are spending their busy time searching for red ant nests hidden behind green leaves in the forests of Shal Gazari of Tangail's Sakhipur Upazila. It's like searching for treasure in the depths of the forest!

On the other hand, environmental conscious people have informed about the fear of damaging the forest environment due to the collection of additional ant eggs.

Talking to amateur fishermen and locals, it is known that one of the essential items for spearfishing is the eggs of these red ants. These eggs are collected from the branches and leaves of the forest plants throughout the year to meet the demand of the hobby fishermen. The family of a class of people runs on the income earned by selling the eggs.

Sakhipur Upazila of Tangail has many Sal-Gazari forests naturally. Ant nests are broken by long bamboos and pieces from the branches of tall gazari trees. White eggs of red ants are collected from those nests. The collection and storage of these eggs should be done very carefully. The eggs collected from the nest are first kept with the ants in a piece of bamboo. At the end of the day, the ants are separated from the eggs with a net and cloth on the table.

Abu Taher (40), an ant egg collector, was met in the forest on Saturday. He said, 'I have come from Kahalgao village of Fulbaria upazila of Mymensingh. 12 of us visit the area daily to collect ant eggs. A large nest yields 100 to 150 grams of eggs. In this way, each person can collect a maximum of one-and-a-half kg of eggs throughout the day. And we sell one kg of ant eggs to wholesalers for 1200 to 1500 taka.

Shahid Hasan, who hunts fish with a barashi, told Ajker Patrika, "We have to buy 250 grams of eggs from wholesalers for 500 to 600 taka. According to that, the price of each kg of eggs falls from 2 thousand to 2 thousand 500 taka.

Meanwhile, in response to the question whether the balance of the natural environment is destroyed by collecting ant eggs in this way, former Assistant Professor of Geography and Environment at Sakhipur Residential Women's College and currently Principal of Hatia Degree College, Raheez Uddin told Ajker newspaper, 'In the forest, different species of birds are ants and insects. Lives by eating. So collecting ant eggs can definitely have an adverse effect on the environment. Although they are small animals, ants also play a role in maintaining the balance of the environment. For this I will say, ants should not be killed freely.'