KAUNIA, Rangpur — Farmers cultivating sweet pumpkin on the sandy chars of the Tista River in Kaunia upazila have reaped a strong harvest this season, sending produce to wholesale markets in Dhaka and other districts.
Pumpkins from the Tista chars have captured Dhaka’s Karwan Bazar and are being marketed to Khulna, Jashore, Cumilla, Narayanganj, Gazipur and other districts. Pumpkins are selling at 15 to 16 taka per kilogram at the field, with each pumpkin fetching 60 to 80 taka depending on weight.
A visit to the chars at Taluk Shahbaz, Chargonai, Nijpara, Char Dushmara and Panjarbhanga in Kaunia upazila showed rows of pumpkin fields turning red and yellow, stretching as far as the eye can see.
Hafizur Rahman, a pumpkin farmer from Nijpara village, said he planted 600 pumpkin seedlings on one hectare of land. He said he is pleased with the strong yield and good price. Wholesale traders are buying pumpkins at the field for 12 taka per kilogram and trucking them to Karwan Bazar in Dhaka.
Monirul Islam, a pumpkin farmer from Taluk Shahbaz village, said he cultivated Bangkok-01 Blackstone variety pumpkins on 1.5 acres of land and received an unexpectedly strong yield. He said he is also pleased with the price and the harvest.
Tuhin Mia, a farmer from the same char, said that during the monsoon, the river overflows its banks and floods cause widespread damage to crops. Cropland, homesteads and various institutions are also lost to erosion. As the monsoon ends, the Tista becomes a vast sandbar. Although growing crops on the sandbars is difficult, the farmers work tirelessly to cultivate pumpkin to feed their families. Farmers are increasingly interested in the crop because pumpkin cultivation on the sandbars costs less and produces higher yields.
According to the upazila agriculture office, pumpkin has been cultivated on 115 hectares of land across 17 chars in Kaunia upazila in Rangpur. A total of 276 marginal farmers from four river-eroded unions cultivated pumpkin on 115 hectares of sandbar land. Varieties grown include Bangkok-01, Bangkok-02, Blackstone, BARI Sweet Pumpkin, Betbri, Sobuj Bangla, Pathor Kuchi, Debgri, Boddobati, Pattaya-01, Wonder Gold, Thai Pumpkin and Small Sweet.
The target yield per hectare is 34 metric tonnes, with production costs of 140,000 taka per hectare and expected sales of 408,000 taka, leaving farmers with a profit of 268,000 taka per hectare. Pumpkin sales from the Tista chars in Kaunia are expected to total about 4 crore taka (about $3.6 million) this season.
Pumpkins are planted between October and November and harvested in late April. Farmers stack the ripened pumpkins at the edges of fields and along the riverbank for sale. Wholesale traders from Dhaka and other districts negotiate prices and transport the produce by truck.
Moniruzzaman, an assistant agriculture officer for the Nijpara block, said farmers were provided with incentives such as fertilizer, seeds and sex pheromone traps, and that regular monitoring and advice contributed to the bumper harvest. Higher market prices have also benefited farmers.
Tania Akhter, the Kaunia upazila agriculture officer, said 276 farmers cultivated pumpkin on 115 hectares of land in the Tista sandbar area under a project to support pumpkin farming. She said farmers received training, seeds, chemical fertilizer and pest-control materials. Pumpkin cultivation is increasing in the upazila and farmers are profiting from the crop, she said.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report