BENAPOLE, Jan 04: Shafiqul Islam, a farmer of Ulashi village in Sharsha upazila of Jashore, has achieved an unmatched success in producing non-poisonous high yielding varieties (HYVs) of gourd.
He is happy to get an extraordinary yield within 60 days of sowing seeds by cultivating round and tall gourds. Shafiqul used organic fertilisers in gourd cultivation.
Seeing his success, other farmers have become interested in cultivating the vegetable.
Shafiqul said that even before this he spent Tk20,000 to Tk25,000 per bigha of land and got an yield of Tk0.2 million (two lakh) worth of crop.
Shafiqul cultivated a high yielding variety of gourd in a field of one bigha without using any kind of chemical fertilisers.
In his gourd field, hundreds of small green gourds were seen hanging under the scaffold.
His gourds are in high demand in the market as they are produced by using compost fertilisers.
At present, the farmers of Benapole, Navaron, Baganchra, Sharsha, Kayba, Shyamalagachi, Kathuria, Jirengacha, Gatipara, Nishchintpur, Sialkona and Basatpur villages of the upazila are interested in gourd cultivation.
Farmer Shafiqul Islam said that he did not use any kind of chemical fertiliser in gourd cultivation.
It is possible to get good yield by cultivating gourd with little labour, capital and limited land.
Due to the high demand of gourd in the market, it is very profitable.
He collects gourds from his field and sell them two days a week.
Since the beginning, he has sold gourds worth about Tk 0.1 million (one lakh).
If the weather condition is favorable and proper care is taken, he could still harvest 3,000 to 4,000 more gourds.
Even if each piece of gourd is sold at an average rate of Tk30, it will fetch him Tk0.1 million more (one lakh) profit.
He also said that he wants to grow other vegetables that are safe and poison-free on a large scale in the future in addition to gourds.
Nazeer Mia, a shopkeeper at Navaran Bazar, said as gourd is a vegetable beneficial for health in various ways, it has a good demand in the market.
Farmers from different areas of the upazila bring huge consignments of gourds to the weekly market (haat). Gourds produced in Sharsha are going to different districts of the country after meeting the local demand.
Sharsha Upazila Agriculture Officer Deepak Kumar Saha said bumper yield of gourd has been witnessed this season here.
Farmers are benefiting from gourd cultivation with advice from agriculture officials.
As gourd is a cost-effective (low-costing but profitable) crop, its cultivation is increasing every year in the upazila.
He also said that the agriculture office is not only giving advice to solve any problem in crop production but also providing improved varieties of gourd seeds to the farmers.
"Production of safe vegetables will be increased. We encourage farmers to produce vegetables that are safe for the human body," he said.
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