The tasty, sweet and appetising desert fruit Sammam, also known as Rock Melon is being cultivated successfully inside the Poloynest House in Ishwardi. Using the Polynet House technology, insecticide and poison-free, safe fruits and vegetables can be produced around the year. The fruit is succulent and tasty, looks like the grape-fruit (Batabi Lebu).
A ripen Sammam fruit weighs two to three kilograms. The fruit appears on the trees within one and a half months of planting and the fruit is ripened within three to four months. The production of this fruit is not troublesome and the use of fertiliser and pesticides in the field is also minimal.
Under a project undertaken by the Agriculture Development Project, Rajshahi division, a Polynet House has been made in Bhutergari area under Ishwardi Municipality of Pabna district at a cost of Tk 22 lakh. Department of Agriculture Extension, Rajshahi, is implementing the project.
The Polynet House has been constructed on 25 decimals of land of Monsur Alam, Manager of RRP Group. This is for the first time, the desert fruit Sammat is being cultivated inside the polynet.
Monsur Alam said the Polynet House was constructed according to the advice of local Agriculture Department officials to produce fully poison-free, safe, high-value fruits and vegetables. He informed, at first he brought seeds of Sammam fruit at Tk 3,000 and sowed those for producing saplings. The saplings were then transplanted in soil mixed with fertiliser inside Polynet House. When the saplings grew larger, sheds with wire and yarn were made inside the house. A total of 600 saplings were planted in six rows inside the house. Not only the Sammam fruit but also vegetables like Lal Sak, Spinach, Strawberry and Capsicum have been cultivated inside the house.
The Polynet House is made using a white-coloured net and modern technology to produce year-round fruits and vegetables free from the bad effects of climate.
The 60 per cent sunshine-resistance House contains insect-resistance nets and irrigation facilities using the drip and the mist technology.
Monsur Alam said he could not comment on the taste and the production of the Sammam until it is fully ripened. He mentioned it is extremely hard for the farm labourers to work inside the Polynet House as the environment inside the house is very warm. A man can't stay more than one hour inside the house because of extremely warm temperatures there.
Meeta Sarker, Upazila Agriculture Officer of Ishwardi informed, the farmers are being interested in the modern methods of farming. Department of Agriculture was cooperating with those interested in modern methods of farming. She said, already National Prize winning farmer Shahjahan Ali Badsha has successfully cultivated Capsicum in Polynet House.
Two more farmers of Iswardi were setting up Polynet Houses in cooperation with the Department of Agriculture. Poloynet House is very important for producing Highvalue, safe, poison-free crops. By controlling sunshine, temperature and rainfall, high value crops can be grown round the year using this process, she added.
