Farmers of Bogura’s char areas alongside the Jamuna and Bangali rivers enjoyed good profit amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic by cultivating different varieties of pumpkins on the abandoned lands with little investment.
Sayeed Hosain, a farmer of Batir char under Sariakandi upazila, cultivated pumpkins in the area for the first time just two and a half months ago. He has already harvested over 100 maunds of pumpkin that sold for Tk 1 lakh in total. Hossain sells his pumpkins for Tk 700-900 per maund.
“I hope to sell the rest of the pumpkins for Tk 4 lakh. I only have invested Tk 60,000 for the seven-bigha pumpkin lands. There are a lot of abandoned lands at this char after flood water receded but I had very little money to invest.
“So I went to the local bank but they denied me a loan as they are not giving loans on the basis of char land documents. Later, I borrowed Tk 50,000 from local people. I hope next year I can cultivate pumpkins in more abandoned char lands,” Hossain told The Daily Star.
Pumpkins are grown in both the winter and summer seasons with production having gradually increased over the years.
In the country, pumpkin production grew 3 per cent year-on-year to 3.12 lakh tonnes in fiscal 2018-19 from 3.03 lakh tonnes a year ago, according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).
Meanwhile, the total acreage for pumpkin plantations also grew marginally.
Pannu Mia, a farmer of Benipur char under the same upazila, cultivated pumpkins on 16 bighas of land with his 4 siblings.
Pannu said that after the floods, a vast char emerged that is suitable for cultivating pumpkins.
“And we have cultivated pumpkins and chili in this abandoned char for the first time,” he added.
Pannu and his brothers invested Tk 80,000 for the pumpkin field and hopes to sell their produce for over Tk 8-10 lakhs.
“Cultivating pumpkins is less expensive in the abandoned chars as we only have to pay for watering and buying fertilisers,” Pannu said.
Md Sahadat Hossain, a vegetable trader of Natore district, said that he bought 200 maunds of pumpkins from Batir char to supply to the local markets in Natore, Rajshahi and other districts this season.
When contacted, Abdul Halim, Sariakandi upazila’s agriculture officer, said that pumpkin cultivation in the char areas is growing day by day.
This year, farmers of the upazila cultivated pumpkins on a total of 105 hectares of land in the char areas of Jamuna and Bangali rivers while it was just 30-40 hectares 3-4 years ago.
“Pumpkins are getting more profit then other char crops. Farmers are selling each of the pumpkins for Tk 30-40,” Halim said.
Masud Ahmed, Sonatala upazila’s agriculture officer, told The Daily Star that three years ago, farmers in the upazila had cultivated only 30 hectares for pumpkins in the char areas but they have cultivated over 75 hectares this winter.
Char farmers in Bogura are more motivated to cultivate pumpkins than the farmers in Rangpur as they pioneered the cultivation of pumpkins in the char areas.
There are now lots of hybrid seeds of ACI, Brac, Laal Teer and other companies in the market. The farmers are collecting these seeds and cultivating them in the char areas and get to harvest within 45 days of planting, Ahmed said.
When asked about the problems of getting loans from banks, Ahmed said that some government banks are giving loans to the char farmers at 4 per cent interest.
“We always urge the bank to give farmers loans,” he added.
According to the DAE, farmers of Bogura district cultivated pumpkins on a total of 805 hectares this winter.
