Rangpur farmers expecting a good yield of sweet pumpkin

RANGPUR, Mar 25: The sweet pumpkin growers living on Teesta river basin at Gangachara upazila in the district are overjoyed as they are achieving a good yield of their produce this season.

The extreme poor people of different char areas along Teesta river under the upazila have cultivated sweet pumpkin this year in plenty on fallow char lands and have become jubilant witnessing the excellent output.

Practical Action Bangladesh (PAB), a UK based non-government international organisation is providing all kinds of technical assistances to the growers through its partner organisation Uttara Development Programme Society (UDPS) under PFP Shiree Project funded by UK aid and government of Bangladesh.

Moklesur, a  pumpkin grower at Char Mahipur village  in the upazila told FE he earned Tk 45,000 by selling sweet pumpkin last year. This year, he has  cultivated the crop on the char land and has already earned a good profit by selling his produce as well.

Nazmul Islam, another grower at Soudpara village under the upazila told The Financial Express that he has been cultivating the crop on char lands for the last three years and it proved lucrative. Last year he bought one cow and two goats by selling pumpkin produced on his char lands.

Rangpur district coordinator of Practical Action Bangladesh Nirmol Chandra Bapary told FE that they are providing necessary training to the growers on pumpkin cultivation and its storing in the houses to combat seasonal food crisis during the lean period.

He said sweet pumpkin is being cultivated on fallow and barren char areas using sandbar cropping technology. This technology has brought significant changes in the life of the extreme poor.

Thousands of holes are made, each no more than a metre, dug into the sand bars. Then the holes are filled with compost. The farmers are able to plant seeds into these, from which crops are grown, he said. The people can eat, store and also sell the crop for making money.

A number of sweet pumpkin cultivators   said that the sandbar cropping method is a blessing for them as it has changed their fate a lot, making them hopeful for a better life.

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