He once ran a barbershop. But having watched his father farm since childhood, he always had a special fondness for agriculture. When his father died nearly three years ago, responsibility for the family fell to him. He left his old profession and took up farming instead, supporting his household ever since by growing various vegetables.
On a small plot, he has grown gourd, bitter gourd, beans, eggplant, chili and other vegetables at different times. This season, on the advice of the upazila agriculture office and under the B-STRONG project, he grew eggplant using the mulching method. He succeeded on his very first attempt with this technique.
This is the story of farmer Main Uddin of Bidyakut village, Bidyakut union, Nabinagar upazila, Brahmanbaria. His success has sparked a renewed interest in farming, and inspired by him, many others in the village are now taking an interest in eggplant cultivation.
Main Uddin said: “My father used to farm. From childhood, I would go to the fields with him, and that’s when my interest in agriculture began. At first I grew various vegetables. This time, on the advice of the agriculture office, I grew the ‘Purple King’ variety of eggplant using the mulching method for the first time.”
He added: “After mulching, weeds in the field decreased, and the soil retained moisture better. Plant growth and yield have also been good. I’m able to harvest about 40-45 kilograms of eggplant every day. Currently I’m selling eggplant for 70-80 taka per kilogram. When market prices are good, I can sometimes sell at 100 taka per kilogram.” A field visit found that, given the amount of eggplant currently on the plants, he will be able to keep selling regularly for another two months.
Local farmer Khokon Mia said: “Thanks to the agriculture office’s advice and the use of modern technology, success in eggplant farming has become easier to achieve. The eggplant market is good, so there’s plenty of opportunity to profit.”
Bidyakut union Sub-Assistant Agriculture Officer Sofurullah said: “Main Uddin got a good yield growing eggplant with the mulching method for the first time. We regularly inspect his field and provide the advice he needs. Using modern technology, it’s possible to increase farmers’ production and income — I expect he’ll earn more than 300,000 taka by the end of the full season.”
Upazila Agriculture Officer Md. Jahangir Alam Liton said: “Under the B-STRONG project, farmers are being encouraged to adopt modern cultivation technology. Main Uddin got a good yield and good market price growing eggplant with the mulching method. Encouraged by his own success, he plans to grow eggplant using the mulching method on about 4 bighas of land this season.”
Having left the barbershop business to take up farming, Main Uddin’s success is now encouraging other farmers in the area to adopt modern cultivation technology as well. The agriculture department is regularly organizing demonstrations, training and field days to help spread modern farming techniques.