Karishma variety watermelon has seen success after its test cultivation on a demonstration plot under Badalgachhi upazila of Naogaon district.
Meanwhile, farmers are interested in cultivating loft method watermelon leaving other crops in Joypurhat as they are getting more profit with a small production cost.
Our Naogaon Correspondent reports: This year, a local company imported a new variety seed named 'Karishma' from Japan and started farming on the demonstration plot owned by a farmer of Palsha village under the supervision of upazila DAE. Sources said the hybrid watermelon variety can be cultivated round the year. Growers can start harvesting the fruit after two months of its plantation.
Sources at Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) of the upazila said usually this upazila depends on import of watermelon from other districts.
Grower Arman Hossain said, "I cultivated some four hundred plants of Karishma variety on the demonstration plot measuring 25 decimals of land spending Tk 25,000 this year."
"Now I am happy and impressed to see my produce. I have already sold 7.5 maunds of the fruit at a price of Tk 40 per kg and I am expecting to sell about more 75 maunds from the cultivation, making a profit of over Tk 0.1 million," Mr Hossain added.
Upazila agriculture officer Hasan Ali said, "Production rate of Karishma variety watermelon is more than the existing other varieties and its price is also high at markets."
"Witnessing the success of the demonstration plot, we are encouraging farmers to cultivate the variety on a large scale to make a huge profit in a short time," he added.
Our Bogura Correspondent says: In Joypurhat, farmers say if the government cooperates in the cultivation of watermelon, it will benefit the farmers. Different varieties of watermelon are becoming very popular in all five upazilas of the district.
A farmer Mominul Islam said a farmer can earn Tk 0.2 million (2 lakh) by cultivating watermelon on one bigha of land spending Tk 50,000.
Abu Musa, a farmer under Panchbibi upazila of the district, started cultivating watermelon since 2018 on his own 33 decimals of land and got a good profit that year. Now, he has expanded his farming, he added.
Later, seeing his success, the watermelon cultivation spread across the area. At present, more than three hundred farmers of 75 villages of Joypurhat Sadar, Panchbibi, Akkelpur and Kalai upazilas are cultivating different varieties of watermelon including Tripti, Diana, Sugar Queen imported from Thailand and Taiwan.
