Southern farmers make huge profit

Farmers in two southern districts - Gopalganj and Barishal have found enviable success in cultivating watermelon by using a modern agricultural method called the floating platform during its off-season.

They are getting interested in the cultivation as they are earning more profit by cultivating early-season summer watermelon as per the advice of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE).

DAE sources said as farmers are getting more interested in watermelon cultivation, the DAE is also giving them all the support and advice they need.

The method is particularly remarkable as it does not require irrigation, pesticides, or fertilisers. As a result, farmers can use this soil-free method without spending much money, and the financial gain is also high as it is in the off-season.

Sources from Agricultural Research Institute, Gopalganj said, this year, for the first time 200 farmers in the district have cultivated watermelons at least on 1,000 floating beds. All the beds produced the expected yield of watermelons.

Farmers Shakti Kirttanya and Tarpad Bala of Mitradanga village of Tungipara upazila said they have been producing various vegetables including cabbage, gourd, pumpkin, cauliflower, cabbage, cucumber, and tomato in floating beds for a long time.

“With the help and advice of the Agricultural Research Institute, we have cultivated watermelon commercially for the first time this year,” said Shakti Kirttanya.

Watermelon cultivation requires no irrigation, pesticides or fertilisers. Insects have been controlled by using sex pheromone traps.

BARI Senior Scientific Officer Mohsin Hawlader said the farmers’ joy at seeing the results of the unconventional approach is boundless as watermelons are usually harvested during the dry season.

Each bed has yielded watermelon as expected, he also said.

He further said, “I encourage farmers to cultivate high-value crops like watermelons as the business is more profitable,

In Bangladesh, bottle gourds are sold for Tk 20-40 each. Compared to that, selling a watermelon allows the farmers to make up to Tk 200, he added.

Ratan Saha, a fruit seller in Gopalganj Boro Bazar, said that a large number of off-season watermelons have been brought in, so far.

“We have sold each watermelon for between Tk 150-300. Watermelon farmers have benefited from this, and so have we,” he said.

Common varieties of watermelons grow between February and April while the off-season ones grow between May and September. They are more profitable than other crops, added Ratan.

In 2019, floating beds made from hyacinths and bamboo were quite popular among farmers in the Tungipara upazila of Gopalganj for growing vegetables and spices.

The farmers chose to adapt this method of cultivation to counter the waterlogging issues caused by the recent floods in the district, which had rendered the arable lands unsuitable for cultivation.

According to reports of our Barishal correspondent, scientists at the Regional Agricultural Research Centre in Rahmatpur of Barishal have been researching BARI Watermelon-1 and BARI Watermelon-2 in floating beds.

Scientific Officer of the regional BARI office Dr Md Mahbubur Rahman Talukder said, “We have developed the technology of off-season watermelon cultivation that can be harvested within 3 months. Farmers will benefit from this.”

Dr Md Golam Kibria, Chief Scientific Officer of the regional BARI office said, BARI Watermelon-1 and BARI Watermelon-2 have yielded good results in experimental cultivation.

Md Rafi Uddin, a chief scientific officer said, in the 6 districts of the southern region summer watermelon has been cultivated on 5,0000 hectares of land this season.

“This new technology makes use of otherwise unused waterlogged lands full of waste. We expect cultivation will increase in future,” he added.

Lebukhali Regional Horticulture Research Centre of Patuakhali discovered Bari Watermelon-1 and Bari Watermelon-2 varieties in 2020. Later, the institute succeeded in experimental cultivation in floating beds at the Regional Agricultural Research Center.

Due to the success of the research, off-season watermelon cultivation has already been spread among the farmers of Gopalganj, Tungipara, Pirojpur, Agailjhara and Banaripara, agronomists said.

Watermelon is a high-value crop. It mainly grows in the Rabi season and sometimes in the late Rabi and Kharif-1 seasons as well. The sowing generally starts in May and continues until September. The fruit grows mature within 65-70 days.