Tapos Kanti Das
Watermelon farmers are happy with the high price they are getting for their crop, which saw a bumper harvest this season.
Watermelons of varieties including Glory, Potenga Giant, Top Yield, World Queen, Champion, Empire, Big Top, and Sugar Baby are cultivated more or less in every district but more extensively in Noakhali, Thakurgaon, Patuakhali, Bhola, Borguna, Naogaon, Khulna, Sylhet, Gopalganj, and Rangamati.
On an average, around 20,000 hectares of land is brought under watermelon cultivation every year with the production standing at around 9.5 lakh tonne, Department of Agriculture Extension officials said on Wednesday.
Watermelon is now selling at Tk 18 to Tk 20 per kilogram in Khulna and Rajshahi and Tk 16 to Tk 18 per kg in Sylhet, while a medium-size watermelon weighing four to five kilo is being sold for Tk 120 to Tk 140 in Dhaka, Tk 100 to Tk 120 in Chittagong, and Tk 50 to Tk 60 in Barisal, according to reports received from the divisional cities.
Farmers and consumers said the price was around Tk 3 higher per kilogram from that in the beginning of the season last year.
'I have got a very good yield of watermelon this year and am selling the fruits at Tk 420 to Tk 440 per maund (40 kilograms), which is around Tk 120 higher than that in the last year,' farmer Deb Prashad Gain of village Bajua under Dacope upazila of Khulna district said.
He said traders were paying Tk 22,000 to Tk 25,000 for the watermelons harvested from a bigha of land this year, while last year the price used to range between Tk 15,000 and Tk 17,000 per bigha.
'We need around Tk 8,000 to cultivate watermelon in one bigha of land' he said.
Farmer Mominul Islam of village Pichhaldanga under Sapahar upazila of Naogaon district also expressed his happiness at the weather being favourable this year for watermelon cultivation and getting both a better yield and a better price.
Hriday Sarkar of Dolkhola area in Khulna city told New Age he bought a watermelon weighing around 4.5 kilo for Tk 90 from a city fruit shop on Wednesday but the price of a watermelon of the same size would have ranged between Tk 75 and Tk 80 this month in last year.
DAE deputy director (Fruits and Vegetables) S M Emdadul Hoque told New Age they had been receiving reports of better production of watermelon and the price was also satisfactory.
Our Noakhali correspondent reports: A bumper yield of watermelon is expected and the farmers are happy with the production and price of the produce in the district this year as a favourable weather resulted in 70 to 80 per cent of the watermelon plants to yield fruits.
'I have already sold Tk 6.5 lakh worth of watermelons harvested from my 6-acre orchard and expect to sell more,' said Belal Hossain of Alamin Bazar area under Subornachar upazila of the district.
The buds of the watermelon plants began to sprout at the end of January and are expected to continue to sprout until the last week of April, said Subornachar Upazila agriculture officer Nibash Debnath. He confirmed that a bumper yield was expected this season.
Nipendra Kumar Sarker of Noakhali DAE said 850 hectares of land were brought under watermelon cultivation this year in the district.
Source: New Age
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