BARI Capsicum-2 was grown on a trial basis on the chars of Bhola Sadar and Daulatkhan upazilas last year. Encouraged by that success, farmers grew it commercially this year and have succeeded again. The soil and weather of Bhola's chars suit the crop, though farmers say they would have made three to four times the profit if wholesale prices had been higher this year.

At Majher Char in Kachia union of Bhola Sadar and in Madanpur union of Daulatkhan, two farmers, Md Nizam Faraji and Khokon Mata, have separately grown BARI Capsicum-2 commercially on 100 decimals of land with the help of the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) research division in Bhola. They are happy with the large size of the fruit and are sending the harvest to wholesale markets in Dhaka, having sold there once or twice so far.

Md Nizam Faraji of Majher Char said he grew BARI Capsicum-2 on a trial basis on 5 decimals last year with the research division's help and got a big yield the first time. Because the fruit is large, he got strong demand and good prices.

This year he grew it commercially on 40 decimals at a cost of about Tk 70,000. With little disease or pest attack, the yield has been large. He has so far sold about Tk 1.5 lakh worth in two harvests at Dhaka wholesale markets. Prices are low now; he expects to sell Tk 3 lakh worth this year, and Tk 5–6 lakh if prices were good. Next year he plans to grow BARI capsicum on 200–300 decimals.

Khokon Matabbar, a farmer on the isolated Majher Char in Kachia union (named Khokon Mata earlier in the report), said he grew BARI capsicum for the first time this year and made a large profit straight away. He would have earned more if prices were a little higher, and will grow capsicum on much more land next year.

Mintu Pandit, a farmer on Madanpur char, said they do not profit much from the hybrid capsicum they grow, but fellow farmer Nizam Faraji is doing very well with a new variety, so they too will grow BARI Capsicum-2 from next year.

Gazi Nazmul Hasan, senior scientific officer of BARI's On-Farm Research Division in Bhola, said last year they had one farmer grow BARI Mishti Morich-2, or BARI Capsicum-2, developed by the institute, on 5 decimals as a trial and it succeeded. This year two farmers took seed from them and grew it commercially on 100 decimals, and they are happy with the big yields.

He said farmers on Bhola's chars grow the Asta variety of capsicum every year. A kilogram of its seed costs Tk 2.5–3 lakh, which pushes up production costs. Seed of their BARI Capsicum-2 costs only Tk 30,000, so production costs are much lower, and farmers can also save seed from BARI Capsicum-2 for future planting. He said they are always beside farmers growing this variety.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.