Tale of fairytale profit by landless Shamsul
It may be difficult to believe, but Samsul Haque, 60, a landless farmer of Purbapara at Sultanpur village under Sadar upazila of the district has earned Tk 1,70,000.00 by cultivating pumpkin this season.
Brahmanbaria Agriculture Extension Department (AED) recently honoured him as one of the best cultivators in the district.
This season, Samsul Haque along with his two sons -- Jahangir Hossain, 25, and Alamgir Hossain, 22, --leased 2.70 acres of cultivable high land at Bangaj village under Darkhar union of Akhaura upazila.
In the Bangla month of Kartik (from October 16 last year), Samsul started cultivating the vegetable with an investment target of Tk 40,000.00. He started harvesting after about six months in the Bangla month of Baishakh and finished the sale of produce last month. He sold pumpkin worth Tk, 1,70,000.00 with a net profit of Tk 1,30,000.00.
Samsul said he implemented his own way of cultivation for achieving the bumper production. Besides he used high yielding seeds which he stored every year.
He has grown 7,000 pieces of pumpkin in his land, each weighing from 5 kg to 40 kg. About the process of cultivation, Samsul said he at first made the land fit by tilling after weeding out the grass. Then he made hundreds of 3.38 cubic feet size holes in the land leaving a gap of two feet. Each hole was filled with a certain quantity of mixture of ashes, cow dung, water hyacinth, compost manure and 200 gm of chemical fertiliser. After 10 days he planted seed in every heap of mixture in the land.
Following his huge success Shamsul put on display a few big pumpkins weighing 35 kg to 40 kg at a stall of recently held agriculture fair, arranged by Brahmanbaria Agriculture Extension Department.
Contacted, Samsul Haque said, he owns no land but he grows different crops after leasing field from the land owners.
He has also a nursery garden, he added.
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