Visit Hatchhala village in Bhurulia union of Shyamnagar upazila in Satkhira and you will find fields full of bitter gourd trellises. Growing this one vegetable has changed the face of the whole village, which has come to be known as the 'bitter gourd village'. The crop has brought prosperity to more than a hundred families.

About 300 maunds of bitter gourd go to market from the village every day. Farmers are currently selling it at Tk 35 to 40 a kg, which by that reckoning brings in Tk 4 lakh 80 thousand a day from this one village.

The Shyamnagar upazila agriculture office says bitter gourd has been grown on 25 hectares in Hatchhala this season. Following the village's lead, cultivation has also increased in several nearby villages, including Gobindapur and Shankarkati in Kashimari union.

Hatchhala farmer Biswajit Gayen told Jago News he has grown bitter gourd on 3 bighas this season and is selling 200 to 250 kg a day. He expects to earn about Tk 1 lakh from the crop this season.

Patiram Mondal, another farmer in the village, said he had been afraid at first, unsure how bitter gourd would do in a coastal area. "But bitter gourd has changed my fortune. I have become financially comfortable. More than a hundred families in our village now grow it." Traders come to the fields and buy wholesale, he said. Although the area is saline, the village's water is sweet, and the sandy loam soil has given a good crop.

Farmer Anup Mondal said every household in the village grows bitter gourd. At the start of the season traders paid Tk 90 to 100 a kg; now it sells for Tk 35 to 40. Ten to 15 traders buy truckloads from the village every day, with wholesalers coming from Dhaka, Chattogram, Jashore, Khulna and other parts of the country.

Local resident Md Shahajan said a bitter gourd market is held every day from 10am on the road in front of Hatchhala primary school, where outside traders buy at wholesale prices. "Our village's bitter gourd goes all over the country."

Shyamnagar upazila agriculture officer Md Nazmul Huda told Jago News that bitter gourd is very popular as a vegetable and also has medicinal qualities, and that it is a profitable crop. Because the soil and environment are favourable, farmers in Hatchhala have been encouraged to grow it, and the agriculture department is giving them all kinds of training and support.

He said bitter gourd has been grown on 50 hectares in Shyamnagar upazila this season, 25 hectares of it in Hatchhala alone, and cultivation will expand in the upazila in future.

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