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Sirajganj farmers get bumper yield of small cucumber

Published : Sunday, 17 December, 2017 at 12:00 AM  Count : 264
Ashok Benarjee
SIRAJGANJ, Dec 16: The farmers of the district have achieved bumper production of khira ( a small variety of cucumber) this season. Besides, they are getting fair price of their produce in local markets.
According to field sources, though the district is well-known for producing different crops including paddy, wheat, jute, mustard and maize, the local farmers got interest in cucumber cultivation around two decades back.
But, the farmers complained about shortage of quality seeds and lack of a market centring cucumber.
Though the soil and the weather in all the upazilas of the district are favourable for cucumber farming, around 70 per cent of the vegetable is cultivated in Ullahpara and Tarash upazilas. Several godowns have developed centring the production of cucumber in the region.
District agriculture department sources said the cultivation target of cucumber in the district is around 1,100 hectares of land this season while around 600 ha of lands were already cultivated. Of those, around 500 ha of lands have been brought under the cultivation in Borohar, Koyra, Mohanpur, Purnimagati, Durganagar and Boro Pangashi unions under Ullahpara Upazila and Soguna, Deshigram, Baruhas, Naogaon and Magurabinod unions under Tarash Upazila, and the cultivation is increasing.
The cultivation target may be exceeded this season, the sources added.
Md Saiful of Chaksa Village under Ullahpara Upazila said, "I have been cultivating cucumber for the last 10 years. After meeting all costs, I make profit of about Tk 30,000 to 40,000 per bigha of land. This year I have cultivated cucumber on three bigha of land. Last year per maund of cucumber was sold at Tk 700 to 800, but this year it is being sold at Tk 1,200 per maund."
Md Akbar of the same village said, "The cultivation of cucumber started here around two decades ago when it was cultivated in small extent. Due to less production time and cost and more profit, the cultivation of cucumber is increasing here day by day. But, we do not get local seeds. The Thailand seeds are costly but we do not get those in time. Besides, the market of cucumber is not good. The farmers have to sell the produce at the prices fixed by the wholesalers."
Farmer Nur Islam of Chaksa Village under Mohanpur Union Parishad in Ullahpara Upazila was found to harvest cucumber from his field along with his family members. He said, "I have been cultivating cucumber for the last 15 years. This year I cultivated the vegetable on 70 decimals of land spending about Tk 40,000. This year the price of cucumber is fair. If the weather remains favourable and the price remains fair, I'ill be able to sell cucumber worth about Tk 1.5 lakh this season."
Wholesaler Md Uzzal of Char Bardhangachha Village in the same upazila said, "I sell cucumber in Dhaka and Kushtia. The locally-produced cucumber has great demand in different areas of the country. This year the price of cucumber is higher than the last year's."
Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) in Sirajganj Md Arshed Ali said, "Due to short growth duration, the cultivation of cucumber has increased in the district. Besides, we are advising the farmers to cultivate more cucumber. Now, the cucumber here is being produced in 37 days only. This year the cultivation target of cucumber in the district is 1,090 hectares of land but the target may be exceeded."
He further said, "Currently the seed of local variety cucumber is not available. The seeds are mainly imported from Thailand. As the Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation (BADC) supplies the seeds of paddy, wheat, jute and different vegetables, so we have sent letter to them to supply the seeds of cucumber. If BADC produces cucumber seeds, it will be easy to supply those to the farmers at less time and cost."
He, however, said that an average farmer is currently making profit of about Tk 40,000 to 50,000 from selling the cucumber produced in per bigha of land.





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