DEWANGANJ, Bangladesh — Water chestnut farmers in Jamalpur’s Dewanganj have seen a change in fortunes, with growers harvesting a crop worth crores of taka from abandoned wetlands this year, officials said.
Agricultural specialists said the fruit has potential for producing glucose. In several areas, dried water chestnuts are being ground into flour and used to make bread and other dishes.
This year, growers in Dewanganj upazila and surrounding areas harvested water chestnuts worth 5 crore taka (about $4.2 million) from abandoned, waterlogged tracts. The crop has turned the wheel of fortune for farmers, and agronomists hope processing can yield glucose.
Because farmers tend to be short on cash in the Bengali months of Kartik and Agrahayan, the cash they earn by selling water chestnuts during the off season is welcome. The fruit has become a profitable crop.
The plant grows on water, which gives it its name — panifol, or water fruit. Locally, it is known as “shingara” because it resembles the fried savory snack of the same name sold at shops. The fruit, dark green and brown in color, is peeled before eating. The flesh inside is milky white, sweet, soft and cool. Local residents typically boil shingara and eat it for breakfast. Ripe shingara is also used as a vegetable. Dried in the sun and ground in a mill or husking pedal, it produces flour that is also baked into bread.
Upazila agriculture officer Ratan Mia said water chestnuts contain substantial amounts of carbohydrates and glucose. He said he hopes the fruit can be processed in the country to make glucose.
According to the upazila agriculture office, 320 tonnes of water chestnuts were produced this year on 40 hectares of abandoned land where other crops do not grow. The yield was 8 tonnes per hectare. At 1,200 taka per maund — or about 33,000 taka per tonne — the harvest was valued at 1 crore 5 lakh 60 thousand taka. Currently, raw water chestnuts sell for 800 to 900 taka per maund and ripe ones for 1,100 to 1,200 taka.
Farmer Karim Mia said growing water chestnuts has lifted his family out of poverty and made him self-reliant. Most farmers in the area have turned their fortunes through water chestnut farming, he said.
Growers said the lack of cold storage in Dewanganj and surrounding areas means the fruit cannot be preserved. It rots if kept for more than two or three days, causing losses. Seedlings are planted in muddy water during the Bengali month of Chaitra, and the planted vines mature after the monsoon fills the wetlands. The harvest begins in the month of Kartik and ends in Poush. This year, however, with the water drying up early, harvesting will end in Kartik itself.
Each year, water chestnuts are bought and sold from dawn till noon behind Dewanganj railway station. Buyers, both men and women, from Dhaka, Mymensingh and other parts of the country come daily to load trucks for sale across the country.
There are complaints, too. Farmer Farhad said local trains have been suspended, so wholesalers cannot reach the area. Growers are being forced to spend extra to transport their fruit by truck to various locations, he said.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report