Success in chemical-free brinjal farming

Two siblings have been successful in planting indigenous variety of poison-free brinjal in Chaculi beel area of Fakirhat upazila.

In May, Kamalesh Paul, 26, a farmer from Dhanpota village, and his elder brother Sarojit Paul, 38, have cultivated the brinjal on four bighas of land beside their fish enclosure using bagging technology. They spent Tk two lakh for the cultivation. 

Following the advice of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in Fakirhat, they are getting quality produce using this technology, said Kamalesh, adding that they cover the egg plants with polybags, which protects the vegetable from pests.

The siblings said they have been selling brinjals for Tk 10,000 per week for the last 20 days and if they could start collecting brinjals from all the plants, their income will be double in every week.

They hope that they will be able to sell brinjals worth about Tk 5 lakh from here.

Kamlesh said, ''I never thought that there would be so much profit by cultivating brinjal. Most importantly, these brinjals are chemical-free. We do not use any pesticides in our brinjal plants rather. We only use polybags to protect the vegetable from insects like Brinjal Fruit and Shoot Borer."

"This method is helping us unbelievably and we are earning high profit in brinjal growing," he added.

Sarojit Paul said, "Our brinjals have a great demand in the market as it is chemical-free. Hopefully this year we will be able to sell the brinjals more than Tk 5 lakh."

According to the Fakirhat DAE, brinjal is usually produced in all seasons. But this native variety of brinjal has been cultivated on 10 acres of land in the upazila. This variety of brinjal is to be cultivated at the end of May. Harvest of the vegetable usually starts after two and a half months. Brinjal is being sold at Tk 50 per kg in the market.

Upazila Agriculture Officer Md Nasrul Millat said the bagging technology has increased production of brinjals. They are giving advice to the farmers to use the method.