A farmer taking care of his gourd field in Pabna recently. — FE Photo Many farmers are being benefited from cultivating gourd in Pabna and Gopalganj districts throughout the year.
Our correspondent from Pabna said most of the families in Atgharia upazila are benefiting financially from growing gourd. Some farmers have cultivated different other vegetables, including spinach and radish.
Farmers choose gourd as the main cash crop, so Atgharia is now known as gourd upazila (Lau Upazila).
Atgharia farmers expect to sell gourd worth about Tk 3 crore, according to the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE).
DAE sources said different vegetables have been cultivated on 15,750 hectares of land in nine upazilas of Pabna district this year.
Out of this, 887 hectares of land have been brought into gourd cultivation. The remaining 14,863 hectares of land have been brought into cultivation of other vegetables.
Especially, most of the farmers in Atgharia are cultivating Baromasi variety of gourd. Gourd trees surrounded by greenery are adorning the village fields of this upazila.
Farmers planted gourd seeds in August this year. They are spending busy time in repairing the gourd loft, taking care of the trees to fight diseases.
Currently, they are getting good prices of gourds. On average, 60 gourds are being picked daily from one bigha of cropland. Each gourd is being sold to wholesalers for Tk 25 to 35.
Wholesalers are buying gourds from this market and supplying them to different districts of the country. The agricultural workers are giving advice to prevent various diseases of gourd, especially pumpkin bitten, AP lecna bitten, fungus, leaf blight, leaf burn disease.
Besides, group meetings are being held with 30 to 50 farmers on the cultivation of gourd as well as other vegetables.
Farmers of Srikantpur area Hafizur Rahman, Akkel Mandal, Abed Ali, Amirul Islam and many others said that each of them has cultivated gourd on one bigha of land.
By selling 50 to 60 gourds from here, they are earning about Tk 1,700 per day. They are able to manage the household expenses well. The DAE is giving them fulltime support for gourd cultivation.
Dr Jamal Uddin, deputy director of the Pabna DAE, told The Financial Express that most of the farmers in the villages of Atgharia Upazila are benefiting from cultivating gourd this year. They are getting good prices for gourds this year. For this reason, this upazila is known as gourd upazila (Lau upazila) to locals.
Our correspondent from Gopalganj said: Gourd farmers of Roghunatpur union under Gopalganj Sadar upazila are being highly benefited from cultivation of poison-free gourd 'nice green' this winter season. Sources said about 100 farmers under Raghunathpur union are involved in this gourd cultivation.
According to sources at the DAE in Gopalganj said a total of 273 hectares of land have been brought into gourd cultivation this year with a production target set at 9,000 tonnes.
Paban Bala, 48, a gourd farmer of village Raghunathpur, said he cultivated 'nice green' gourd on 17 decimal of land this winter season.
Prodip Halder, sub-assistant agriculture officer (SAAO), Raghunathpur union of Digarkul block no. 56 under Gopalganj Sadar upazila, said about six hectares (local 30 bighas) of land have been brought into gourd farming, with about 100 farmers involved in this farming.
Farmers are being highly benefited from the gourd farming as its production cost is low and market price is high, Prodip said.
Liton Biswas (45), a gourd farmer of village Raghunathpur southpara, said he cultivated gourd on 15 decimal of land this winter at a cost of Tk 9,500. He has already got about 1,100 gourds, which current market price is about Tk 55,000.
Mafroza Akther, Upazila Agriculture Officer (UAO), Gopalganj Sadar told the FE that a total of 80 hectares of land have been brought under gourd cultivation in Sadar upazila.
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