Photo-The Daily Morning Sun.
Md. Abdullah, Jaintapur (Sylhet) Correspondent //

Since mid-winter, watermelons cultivated in various haors and hilly riverbank areas of Jaintapur have been going to the market as well as to Dhaka and all over the country by truck. When I went to Sarjamin, I saw that traders have arranged huge watermelon stalls on both sides of the road in Sarighat Dakshin Bazar area on the Sylhet-Tamabil highway on the banks of the Sari River in Jaintapur Upazila.
The buying and selling is going on all day long. Sometimes tourists and visitors coming for picnics stop their cars and buy watermelons. Sometimes traders come with huge trucks and covered vans and load watermelons to wholesale markets in Dhaka, Comilla, Chittagong and other districts.

According to the information provided by the Upazila Agricultural Extension Department, watermelons have been cultivated on 130 hectares of land in 6 unions of the upazila this season. The target of watermelon production in the entire upazila this year was 3,770 metric tons. Which is already on the way to being achieved.

According to the Agricultural Extension Department, 650 farmers have cultivated watermelons in the entire upazila this season. Out of them, 110 farmers have been given demonstrations. In addition, seeds, fertilizers and pesticides have been provided to the farmers who received demonstrations.

However, the most hopeful thing is that three or four years ago, in Jaintapur upazila, watermelon cultivation in Binnaura lands that had been lying uncultivated for years was a great success. At that time, watermelons were cultivated on 20 hectares of uncultivated Binnaura land in the upazila. This season, watermelons have been cultivated on an additional 5 hectares of uncultivated Binnaura land.

The Upazila Agricultural Extension Department also informed that in the current season, watermelons of Banglalink, Anarkali and Glory varieties have been cultivated in the entire upazila. Of these, the most cultivation is in Nijpat and Jaintapur unions. This season, watermelons have been cultivated on 40 hectares of land in Nijpat union and 55 hectares in Jaintapur union. In addition, watermelons are cultivated on 15 hectares of land in Madhya Charikatha, 15 hectares in Darvast union, 3 hectares in Fatehpur union and 2 hectares in Chiknagol union in other unions.

Watermelon farmer Salman Ahmed said that in the current season, he cultivated watermelons on 12 bighas of land in the Chatlarpar area in the month of Agrahayan. His total production cost is around 2 lakh taka. He started selling watermelons in the middle of Magh month. So far, he has sold watermelons worth 4 lakh 80 thousand taka. He hopes to sell another 4 lakh taka of crops at the end of the season. However, he highlighted some problems along with the profit. That is, some extra money is spent on fuel costs for irrigation in this area. In addition, since the area is affected by river erosion, there are many problems in transporting watermelons. He also said that in the last three months, five farmers have been working in his field on a daily wage basis. Their daily wage is 700 taka.

Another watermelon farmer from the same area, Nur Uddin, said that this season, he was given a demonstration on watermelons by the upazila’s Agricultural Extension Department. This year, he cultivated watermelons on six and a half bighas of land. His expenditure on this is around 1 lakh 4 thousand taka. So far, he has sold watermelons worth 1 lakh 50 thousand taka. He hopes to sell another 2 lakh taka of watermelons at the end of the season. He also mentioned some problems in watermelon cultivation in the Bhitrikhel area. That is the irrigation system. Due to the lack of irrigation facilities in the current season, they have to carry water and water the watermelon plants. In this way, the farmers have to walk 150 feet every day to carry water. They demand that a deep tubewell be installed at the government expense in this area or an irrigation pump be provided with subsidy from the Department of Agricultural Extension.

In this regard, Jaintapur Upazila Agriculture Officer Shamima Akhter told The Daily Morning Sun that in the current 2024-25 season, a demonstration has been given at the farmer level by the Upazila Agricultural Extension Department on high-value crop demonstration technology.

In addition, seeds, fertilizers and pesticides have been provided at the agricultural and farmer level by the Department of Agricultural Extension, Jaintapur, under the implementation of the Climate Agriculture and Water Management Project (DAE part). In addition, Deputy Assistant Agricultural Officers regularly visit the crop fields to supervise the crop fields, including training and advising farmers at the field level.

He also said that for a long time, success has been achieved by cultivating watermelons on 25 hectares of uncultivated Binnaura land in various unions of the upazila. In the future, the Upazila Agricultural Extension Department is working to bring the uncultivated Binnaura lands of the upazila under cultivation.

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