By replacing harmful tobacco with cucumber, they have not only doubled their income but are also protecting public health and environment.

People in Sirabodi Koimari, Balapara, Rotter Danga, Binnakuri, Golmunda and Sidhdheswari villages had been cultivating tobacco in the alluvial soil of Teesta basin for long. Tobacco cultivation was a tradition and it was their lone cash crop.

Harmful tobacco is gradually being replaced by cucumber. Every year, lands under cultivation of cucumber and other crops in the villages are increasing.

The farmers are happy with cucumber cultivation as it doubles their income with less labour and expenditure compared to tobacco. But this change did not come easily.

Petu Barman of Sirabodi village cultivated cucumber on one bigha of land. The yield was very good, a beaming Barman told this correspondent during a recent visit to the village. He grew early variety of cucumber and started harvesting it in mid-February, which continues till now, though in lesser quantities.

So far, he sold about 100 maunds of cucumber, starting with Tk 320 per maund. Now the price is between Tk 120 and Tk 150 per maund. He earned a net profit of around Tk 27,000, which is more than double the amount he used to earn from tobacco, Barman said.

Fony Adhikari of Binnakuri village said he earned less as he cultivated late. Still, he got Tk 10,000, which is more than the money he earned from tobacco. On an average, 6-7 maunds of tobacco are produced in a bigha of land, they said.

Like Barman and Adhikari, farmers Toray, Suresh, Anukul, Kader, Alimuddin and Jhaikh were in all smiles while talking to this correspondent. They replaced tobacco with cucumber.

Alumuddin of Balapara village said his children usually suffered from cough, fever and other diseases during tobacco harvesting season. Tobacco's irritating smell caused loss of appetite, headache and even respiratory problem.

But those complaints are gone after he stopped tobacco cultivation.

The credit for this goes to Plan International, an international NGO, which launched a Participatory Agriculture Products Diversification Project to keep away farmers from tobacco cultivation and diversify crops. It is implementing the project with the help a local farmers' organisation named Bangladesh Rural Improvement Foundation (BRIF).

BRIF official Mohsin Reza Rupan said they launched a motivation campaign among farmers and are providing technical and logistic support for cultivation of cucumber.

The Jaldhaka Upazila Agriculture Officer Susanto Kumar Pramanik said tobacco cultivation has been reduced by around 15 percent in Jaldhaka upazila after the government launched its Norh-West Crop Diversification Programme (NCDP) in cooperation with Plan International and its local partner BRIF.

"We are extending all co-operation to the NGOs and farmers to replace tobacco with other crops" he added.

Chairman of Koimari Union Parishad Fazlul Haq said smoking rate in his union was very high earlier as tobacco was cultivated in abundance. "Now it is coming down as its cultivation is declining".