<i>Big smiles on farmers' faces</i>
People living on sandy chars see bumper yield of pumpkin
A farmer in all smiles as she got bumper yield of pumpkin at her field on the sands of Teesta River at Char Gobardhan village in Aditmari upazila under Lalmonirhat district. Pumpkin cultivation in the char (landmass emerged from riverbed) areas has brought solvency to a good number of marginal farmers. Photo: STAR
Fortune smiled on farmers as they witnessed a bumper production of the sweet vegetable on sandy chars of Teesta River. Expressing happiness, pumpkin growers said they were earning good profit this year. Earlier, the farmers could not achieve good yield of crops and vegetables on the barren lands despite months of toil. According to Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), a total of 3,700 bighas of sandy char emerged on Teesta River basin now known as Rajpur, Tajpur, Khuniya Gachh, Kalmati and Milon Bazar under Sadar upazila and Mohiskhocha, Gobordhan under Aditmari, Shoil Mari, Bhotmari char under Kaliganj upazila and Bhotmari, Dawabari, Goddimari, Sindurna and Sainyazan char under Hatibandha upazila. Over 2000 char farmers engaged in pumpkin cultivation this year as the vegetable continued to witness better production and price for the last few years. The vegetable was cultivated on 500 bighas of land in 2009, 1800 bighas in 2010 and 2500 bighas in 2011, said DAE officials. Farmer Mohor Ali, 55, of Rajpur char village, said spending only Tk 1200 to Tk 1500, a grower can get 500 to 600 pieces of pumpkin from one bigha land, each weighing 2kg to 4kg. “Each pumpkin can be sold between Tk 14 and 18” he said. “I have already collected pumpkins from my three bighas of land and expecting to earn over Tk 80,000 this season”, said Abdar Ali of Kalmati char. Another cultivator, Alal Hossain, 50, said they are not facing any marketing hassle this year as traders from different parts of the country, including the capital, are buying pumpkin straightly from the field. “We are also getting fair prices”, he said with a big smile on his face. Farmers said, profitable cultivation of pumpkin and its marketing at fair prices can change the lot of the char people. Zahurul Haque, Mansur Ali, Malek Miah, Nazrul Islam and other pumpkin growers of char Gobordhan, told this correspondent that they started cultivation of the vegetable on the Teesta chars in 2009. The farmers earned a reasonable profit as the then deputy commissioner gave necessary supports including trainings to cultivate the vegetable on the chars, they added. M Zaman Shaheen, an official at Aditmari upazila agriculture office, said the cultivators in char areas achieved bumper production this year due to favourable weather condition. Meanwhile, the erosion victims who live by farming pumpkin on charlands urged the government to extend more logistic and technical support to ensure profitable cultivation of the vegetable.
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