<i>Pumpkins stocked in good time help them in bad days</i>
Pumpkin farmers in the basin of Teesta River at Kalmati village in Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila are now lucky to have a 'pumpkin bank' as the vegetable stocked there are sold for good prices during other seasons. Photo: STAR
Luck smiled on pumpkin farmers of char areas, who usually remain jobless during this time of year, as they had a bumper production this season. Over 700 growers of 80 char villages under Sadar, Aditmari, Kaliganj and Hatibandha upazilas in Teesta and Dharla river basins are getting higher prices by selling the vegetable in the off season. They are now selling a one Kilogram pumpkin at Tk 23 to 25 which was sold at Tk 5 to 6 during the harvesting period in April- May this year. The growers said they cultivated huge quantities of pumpkins on vast areas of char lands on the river basins with the help of Practical Action Bangladesh, an NGO. Nizamul Islam, 48, of Kalmati village in Sadar upazila, said he got 510 pumpkins from two bighas of land. “Of them, I sold 300 at about Tk 1500 during the harvesting period. The remaining were preserved in the 'pumpkin bank' at the house to sell those when I have no job from Octoberâ€, said Nizamul. “I have already sold 150 pumpkins weighing 1800 kgs at around Tk 3300â€, said the farmer. Majher Ali, 55, of Rajpur char village, said he got 265 pumpkins from one bigha of land. He also sold 65 from the bank at about Tk 22,425 last month. “I maintained my family by selling the pumpkins as I had no job during the periodâ€, he said. Sobahan Shaikh, 65, a madrasa teacher of Shoalmari char village, who cultivated the vegetable on three bighas of land, said smilingly that he also got good prices by selling over 100 stocked pumpkins. Sadar upazila agriculture officer Mohammad Nuruzzaman said, with the technical support of agriculture department and the NGO, people in the char areas had a bumper yield of the vegetable. This has reduced the woes of the jobless a lot, he said.
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