BOGRA, Jan 11: Bottle gourd cultivation has changed the livelihood of hundreds of poor and marginal peasants in all the 12 upazilas of the district.
Sources said a good number of farmers have shown more interest to bring the new cropland under the vegetable cultivation as it's proved them more lucrative spending trifling money compare to other winter vegetable. It is now grown round the year but winter season is the high time for its well growth.
The farmers dig the land after tilling well with plough on average half feet deep to grow the crop on last week of October to first week of November and sow the healthy seed. The vegetable field requires irrigation 10 days of its seed sown.
"I have grown bottle gourd on 23 decimals of land spending Tk 2,200 this season aiming to get a bumper production," said farmer Abdullah Al Kafi of Shibganj upazila. He said, "I have already started harvesting the vegetable to sell in the market."
In a recent visit the correspondent found the farmers are passing busy time to take care of the vegetable field. Present market price also delights the cultivators this season.
The Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) has provided necessary agri-input to make the programme a success, said farmer Aminul Islam of Kahaloo upazila. He desires to bring new crop land next year if he can make a good profit in this season, he added.
The wholesalers of the different area visit the root level cropland to buy the fresh crops from the farmers directly with Tk 30 to Tk 35 per piece. They are sending the item to different areas across the country.
Deputy director of DAE Protul Chandra Sarker said bottle gourd cultivation is lucrative as they farmer can start harvesting the crop after 60 days of its cultivation. "We have encouraged the farmers to grow the vegetable abundantly across the district", he added.
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