Mango farmers in Sapahar of Naogaon have revolutionized mango cultivation this year. At the same time, many farmers are becoming self-sufficient by cultivating Bitter gourd in the upazila.
Local farmers are now seeing the benefits of Bitter gourd farming as this vegetable is being supplied to different parts of the country including the capital Dhaka. Many people are now living a prosperous life by farming bitter gourd locally known as Korolla.
For some years now, the farmers of this upazila are cultivating bitter gourds as a companion crop in their hybrid mango orchards. They have been earning extra money by selling them at various local markets.
Later, when the news of bitter gourd cultivation spread in different areas, traders of raw vegetables from different parts of the country including the capital Dhaka rushed to Sapahar.
Subsequently, a temporary market for 3-4 hours per day was set up at Bahapur junction of Sapahar-Tilna paved road as a center for bitter gourd farmers of the upazila.
Early in the morning, farmers from different areas bring their produced bitter gourd to this market and the wholesale traders after buying the vegetable from them at different prices, leave for their respective destinations by 10 am in mini trucks.
Per mound of bitter gourd is currently being sold at Tk 900 to 1,200. Many farmers also think that the market may increase a bit as different parts of the country are affected by natural calamities and floods. Experienced farmers of the upazila think that Sapahar will be recognized by the people of different districts of the country including the capital Dhaka.
Anwar Hossain, a vegetable trader from Dhaka's Kawran Bazar, said that he has been supplying bitter gourd from Sapahar to various areas including Kawran Bazar in Dhaka for several years, as the quality of the vegetable and the profit is good.
Several farmers, including Nazrul Islam, Saiful Islam and Abdul Momin, said they would not have cultivated bitter gourd at this rate unless the bitter gourd market was set up there, outside the upazila headquarters. At present, many people including them are now seeing the face of success by cultivating bitter gourd.
According to the buyers and sellers of this market, about 100 to 150 tonnes of bitter gourd is supplied from this market to different parts of the country every day.
Upazila Agriculture Officer Mojibur Rahman said bitter gourd cultivation has caused a silent revolution among the farmers of the upazila for several years. On the advice of the Agriculture Office, many people of the upazila have now become economically self-sufficient by cultivating different varieties of bitter gourd including Desi, Hybrid and Sonamukhi variety. This year, it has been cultivated on 150 to 200 bighas of land there.
Although bitter gourd is a short lived crop, this time it has been widely harvested and the price is also good. If the weather is favorable for a few more days, the duration of bitter gourd cultivation will increase. The farmers of the upazila will make a revolution in farming bitter gourd this year just as they have made a revolution in mango cultivation.