Bumper cucumber yield makes growers happy
Bumper production of cucumber and its good market price have made Dinajpur farmers happy.
"We did not get fair price for our winter season vegetables due to blockade and hartals early this year, but we grew cucumber, which is helping us to recoup the losses," said Md Abdur Razzak of Singra village under Birganj upazila.
During a visit to cucumber fields in Birganj, Biral, Bochaganj, Birampur and Khansama upazilas, this correspondent found farmers are selling their produce directly from the farmlands at Tk 10 to Tk 12 per kilogram. Cucumbers are also being sent to other places in the country.
Gulzar Mia of Motihara village of Nawabganj said they are getting good price in the market by selling cucumber. "We are also getting buyers from outside the district almost every day," he said.
Susanta Borua, a trader from Chittagong, said the cucumber produced in Dinajpur is in high demand in their region and he comes to Dinajpur almost every year to buy it. However, he said cucumber price is high this year.
According to the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), around 258 hectares of land have been brought under cucumber farming in Dinajpur, and the production target was 4,880 tonnes. Officials of DAE said the target will be exceeded as the farmers got abundant production this year due to favourable weather.
Azizur Rahman, a farmer of Birganj, said last year he had earned nearly Tk one lakh from one bigha of land, but this year he got healthy production and is expecting around Tk 1.5 lakh from one bigha.
"We spent nearly Tk 50,000 on one bigha," he said.
Cucumber farming usually starts at the end of December and continues till January. Planting, growing and harvesting cost around Tk 50,000, said Md Khokon of Birganj upazila.
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