Farmers like Md. Yunus Ali of Muladuli, Iswardi, Pabna, has changed thier local Jujube (Ziziphus jujuba Mill., Local name "Barai") plants to "Apple kul", an improved selection and getting more profit from Jujube orchard.

Northwest Bangladesh has large number of Jujube plants of nondescript variety. These plants in the homesteads yield small sized sour fruits of little commercial value. An improved selection of Jujube named as "Apple kul" with lager sized, sweet fruits has been released for commercial cultivation in Bangladesh. Under North-West Crop Diversification Project (NCDP), top-working (budding) technology was demonstrated on the existing Jujube trees in the homesteads of project beneficiaries of Pabna, Natore. Rangpur and Chapai Nawabgonj District. Trees were pruned in January-February and budding with "Apple Kul" variety was done in April on the newly emerged twigs/branches.

Depending on the age of the top worked tree, a yield of 8 to17 kg was recorded in Muladuli and 6 to 27 kg in Goalbathan village. Yunus Ali Khan of Muladuli harvested as high as 43 kg fruit of "Apple Kul" and got average sale price of Tk. 30 per kg. This makes sure that on an average, Tk. 350 -400 could easily be realized within a year from a top-worked plant. Farmers in NCDP project area are showing more interest and had undertaken top working on Jujube enthusiastically.