Jashore bitter gourd farmers all smiles
Bumper yield and fair price have brought smile to bitter gourd farmers in Jashore district.
The vegetable is now being sent to different wholesale kitchen markets in Dhaka, Chattogram, Bogura, Khulna and Barishal due to its good prices, said the growers.
Sources at Jashore district agriculture office said around 850 hectares of land have been brought under bitter gourd cultivation in eight upazilas of the district this year.
Md Bablur Rahman, a grower of Hashempur village in Sadar upazila, said he cultivated bitter gourd on two bighas of land spending Tk 12,500 this season. He is expecting 50 to 55 maunds of bitter gourd from each bigha.
He is now selling at Tk 700 to Tk 800 per maund of bitter gourd to the local wholesale traders, said Bablur.
Another farmer Abdul Hamid of Rupdia village in the same upazila said bitter gourd is more profitable than paddy and jute and due to this, growers are interested in cultivating the vegetable.
Sautom Kumar Shil, agriculture officer in Sharsha upazila, said production cost of bitter gourd on per bigha of land is Tk 14,000 and the farmers are getting about 60 maund of bitter gourd from each bigha.
Now the Bitter gourd cultivation is very profitable, so the farmers are showing interest in the vegetable cultivation, said the agriculture officer.
Deputy Director (DD) of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) in Jashore Emdad Hossain said farmers are making handsome profit from bitter gourd cultivation as the pest attack on the farmland is not severe this year.
Apart from this, the growers are getting fair prices due to low production costs and easy farming, said the DD.
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