Farmers in Fatikchhari, Chattogram, are now growing a fruit of the desert countries instead of vegetables. This season sammam, a desert melon, has been grown on a wide stretch of char land along a canal bank. Md Ekhlas, a 42-year-old farmer, grew it on 40 decimals of land after watching videos on YouTube and got a good yield at his first attempt.
He farms the char of the Dhurung canal next to the Bainyachola bridge at Manikpur in Kanchannagar union of Fatikchhari upazila. Ekhlas is the son of the late Abul Kashem of that village.
He was already a farmer. Before sammam he grew bananas, jujube and other fruit and crops, and earlier he also traded in timber. Wanting to try something new and hoping for a bigger profit, he decided this time to go beyond the usual crops and grow sammam. On 22 August he planted 2,400 seedlings on 40 decimals of land using mulching paper. This first crop cost him about Tk 45,000. The plants began to bear fruit a month and a half after planting, and nearly every plant has fruited. The sammam’s skin is light green and its flesh yellow. It tastes sweet but has no particular smell. Ekhlas is selling it wholesale at Tk 65 a kilo, and wholesalers come to buy straight from his field, from Fatikchhari town and other areas. So far he has sold 1,800 kg of sammam and earned Tk 1,08,000. He hopes to sell about 1,500 kg more, which could bring in about Tk 1 lakh. In all he expects to sell about Tk 2,08,000 worth of fruit from this first crop.
Ekhlas said four labourers help him, both with the sammam and with his other farm work.
The farmer said a good yield needs organic fertiliser, sulphur and the necessary pesticides to control insects.
Ekhlas is not alone in growing sammam in Fatikchhari. Five other farmers in different unions of the upazila have grown the fruit. But he is the first to grow it on the char of the Dhurung canal in Kanchannagar union. His success has made other farmers in the area interested in growing it too.
Sub-assistant agriculture officer Shiburam Krishna Dey said Ekhlas planned to grow sammam after watching YouTube. “I kept track of his effort from the start of cultivation. I went to the field from time to time to see the state of the crop and gave him the time and advice he needed.”
Upazila agriculture officer Abu Saleq said sammam, known as a fruit of desert regions, has been grown in Fatikchhari for a few years. This season, through Kanchannagar farm entrepreneur Ekhlas, it has been grown commercially for the first time on the char of the Dhurung canal.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report