Home ›› 22 Dec 2021 ›› Nation
Farmers of Bogura’s char areas alongside the Jamuna and Bangali rivers are expecting a good profit as they got a bumper yield of different varieties of pumpkins on the abandoned lands with little investment this season.
Especially people of the Sariakandi upazila, which is surrounded by these rivers, are susceptible to river erosion, and a large part of the land gets flooded every year, causing suffering to the people of this region.
These helpless people lose their homesteads, croplands, and valuables every year, and when the flood goes away, they start building their houses and croplands once again with a dream to recoup their losses, locals said.
After getting a massive yield last year, the district has seen an increase in the number of farmers, who became more inclined to cultivate hybrid pumpkin as their yield is high, said Kudrat Ali, a deputy assistant agriculture officer of the upazila.
“The Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) of Bogura fixed a target of cultivating the vegetable on 90 hectares of land. However, the farmers exceeded the target and brought 110 hectares of cropland under pumpkin cultivation. If everything goes well, the farmers will produce 2,750 tonnes of pumpkin worth Tk 5.5 crore,” he said.
According to the DAE, 20-25 hybrid pumpkins can be harvested from one pumpkin plant in a season. Usually, pumpkins are planted between October and November and harvested between March and April.
The plants flower in approximately 40 to 50 days and fruits can be harvested between 80 and 85 days. Pumpkin has a high demand in the local market and can be sold any time after they get mature, farmers said.
During a recent visit, farmers Batul Member, Enamul, Rashed, Jafar, Shahin, and Hannan, along with others, from Haat Sherpur area of the upazila were seen tending to their crops in their cropland. They said they are happy with the yield, and if everything goes well, they would be able to make a profit.
“The regular floods in the district are both a curse and a blessing to us. When it floods, it deposits a layer of fine soil, rich mineral salts, nutrient-rich silt, sediment, and distributes it across a wide area. These sediments make the soil very fertile and lead to the formation of a very flat fertile flood plain, which is appropriate for cultivating any kind of crop,” said farmer Batul Member, quoting the DAE officials.
He further said he was expecting a good yield this year.
Abu Syed, a farmer of Charbatiya of the upazila, told The Business Post he cultivated the vegetable on eight bighas of cropland and got a good yield.
“I have hundreds of mature pumpkins on my cropland to sell. I am trying to negotiate my prices with the traders from Dhaka, Bogura city, Narayanganj and Sylhet, who came to my cropland to buy the vegetables. I am selling one kilogramme of pumpkin for Tk 20, and each pumpkin weighs around 2.5 to 3 kilogrammes,” he said.
The agriculture officer of Sariakandi upazila, Abdul Halim, told The Business Post the pumpkin farmers would make twice or thrice as much profit as the paddy farmers. “The farmers produced 20 to 25 tonnes of pumpkin from a hectare of land last year. If everything goes well, the district will produce much more of the vegetable than last year,” he added.
