Bumper pumpkin yield brings smile to farmers

Char farmers in the Teesta and Dharla river basin area in Lalmonirhat district are smiling because there has been a bumper output of pumpkin this year. The char farmers are stocking 50 percent of the harvested pumpkins to sell them during the off-season between October and December to earn windfall profit. 
According to the district office of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), a total of 4,500 bighas of sandy land in 35 char villages in four upazilas of the district were brought under pumpkin cultivation this year, and at least 3,300 farmers were engaged in farming the vegetable. Bumper yield of pumpkin and its high profit encouraged many others to follow them. 
Pumpkin cultivation is started in the first week of January and harvesting is done from the middle of March to April, DAE officials said. 
Pumpkin cultivator Nabirul Islami, 55, of Rajpur village said only Tk1,200 to Tk 1,500 is needed to cultivate one bigha of land (one bigha is equal to 27 decimals), and a farmer can harvest 400 to 500 pieces of pumpkin on it. Each pumpkin weighs between 4kg and 8kg. The price of 1kg pumpkin is between Tk 6 and Tk 8 in the local market during the harvesting period, but it increases to Tk 20 to Tk 25 per kg during off- season. 
Nazrul Islam, 48, a pumpkin grower in Bowalmari char village in Dharla River basin under sadar upazila said, "I have already harvested pumpkin from my four bighas of land. I sold 50 percent of them at Tk 24 thousand and I hope I will earn over Tk 28 thousand when I sell the rest this month."
Pumpkin grower Delowar Hossain, 55, of char Gobordhan village in Tesesta basin under Aditmari upazila said they do not need huge capital to cultivate pumpkin on sandy land. Little investment brings high profit. They need only seeds, some compost fertiliser and proper care of the crop.
Deputy Director of DAE in Lalmonirhat, Safayet Hossain, said pumpkin cultivation on sandy land in char areas can play a vital role in mitigating poverty of the farmers. Wastage from pumpkin fields can fertilise the sandy land for cultivation of other crops, he said.
Char farmers urged the government to provide necessary support, including seeds, fertlisers and insecticides, for increasing cultivation of pumpkin on sandy lands to alleviate poverty.