A farmer shows off a sweet pumpkin in his field at Dhalar Char village in Bera upazila of Pabna district — FE Photo PABNA, Mar 11: Sweet pumpkin cultivation is increasing day by day in Pabna district's Bera upazila making the cultivators financially self-reliant.
About 500 farmers in different areas of the upazila have brought prosperity to their families by cultivating sweet pumpkin along with other crops.
Within a short period of time, farming of the vegetable which gives higher profit for a relatively lower expenditure helped the farmers gain economic self-sufficiency to the benefit of their families.
The farmers are gaining wealth rapidly by the help of sizable yields of the crop every year and their families are also becoming happy with the progress. This successful change in agriculture continues to make a significant contribution to the livelihood of farmers. Due to the fertile, sandy and loamy soil, the trend of sweet pumpkin cultivation is increasing in various villages of nine unions of the upazila including Bara Sadar.
The agriculture department is also providing relentless technical support to the farmers so they can attain long-term sustainability in farming of the crop.
Necessary support provided by the department helped them gain substantial profit from the vegetable. Insiders opined if farmers are given loans on easy terms and necessary training, pumpkin farming can change the agricultural economy of Bara upazila.
According to sources at the Bera upazila Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) office, sweet pumpkin has been cultivated on 55 hectares of land in the upazila in the current season.
Hanif Sardar, a farmer of Sambhupur village in Bera Sadar, said that sweet pumpkin is cultivated in the middle of the Bangla month of Kartik and within 90 days the vegetable matures into sale-level.
He has cultivated sweet pumpkin in this two bighas of land this year.
Amir Ali, a farmer of Char Nakalia village, said "I've cultivated sweet pumpkin on five bighas of land this year. I hope that this year sweet pumpkin will fetch much more profit than the previous years."
As the yield is quite good this season, Amir Ali is expecting a profit of around Tk1.5 lakh.
Altaf Sarkar, a grower from a village of Chhota Paya, said "Sweet pumpkin cultivation on one bigha of land costs about Tk8,000 to 9,000 and if the yield is good, one and a half to two tonnes of sweet pumpkin can be produced per bigha."
Farmers can get about Tk25,00 to Tk30,000 profit if the produce is sold Tk1,200 per bigha. If cultivated beside other crops, production of sweet pumpkin does not need any additional cost.
As far as the sight goes, sweet pumpkin fields extend over vast tracts of land in Dhalar Char, Aminpur, Rooppur, Singhasan, Haturia, Nakalia, Harirampur and Masumdia unions of the upazila apart from Bera Sadar.
Farmers said that they sell vegetables including sweet pumpkin produced in the region at Kawran Bazar market in the capital.
Farmer Akbar Ali said that traders buy sweet pumpkin from the field in cash.
Each pumpkin is purchased by the wholesalers from field at the rate of Tk 20 to Tk 40 depending on size. So, the growers do not have to face any additional trouble.
Palash, a wholesaler, said that the sweet pumpkin produced here is more delicious than other areas, so the demand is a little higher. He purchased sweet pumpkins worth Tk 0.25 million (2.5 lakh) from which he expects to earn Tk50,000 this year.
Bera upazila agriculture officer Nusrat Kabir told this correspondent that farmers are cultivating cauliflower, potato, sweet pumpkin along with other crops and are getting good profit spending less.
At the field level, the agricultural office is continuously giving advice to the farmers so they can get interested in sweet pumpkin farming day by day.
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