Bringing seed from Saudi Arabia, Monirul Islam of Chapainawabganj municipality has succeeded in growing "sammam" in the Barind area. Growing the fruit on trial for the first time in the district, he has had encouraging results, and he plans to farm it commercially next year.

Monirul Islam said that after 16 years working as a driver in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, he returned home and decided to farm the land he had inherited. Instead of paddy, he thought of growing a new fruit, and he remembered sammam, a very popular fruit in Saudi Arabia and its neighbouring countries. He collected seed of two sammam varieties from Saudi Arabia and later two more through a relative living in Kuwait. Three months ago he planted the four varieties on land at Dakuir in Jhilim union of Chapainawabganj Sadar upazila, in the Barind area. The yield has been as hoped and the fruit tastes good, which has also sparked interest among nearby farmers.

A recent visit to Monirul Islam's sammam field found many fruits lying on the ground beneath the creeping vines. Monirul said that because it was his first trial year, he let the fruit grow on the ground, and weeds have covered the field. Even so, the yield has been good: more than 100 maunds from one and a half bighas. Next year he will put up trellises on the sammam field, which will improve both yield and quality.

He said each fruit weighed from one to three kilograms. Of the four varieties, one is fully yellow, two are green with a net-like skin, and the other is striped. The striped fruit tastes like ripe papaya; the others are a mix of white and green. All are tasty and fragrant.

Horticulturist Saifur Rahman, deputy director of the Chapainawabganj Horticulture Centre, told Prothom Alo that this melon-type fruit is also called rock melon. Its first production in Chapainawabganj has been encouraging, and its taste and fragrance are attractive, without the blandness of the local melon. Its sweetness has been measured at 8 to 10 per cent. The fruit has plenty of beta carotene, 20 per cent more than oranges, and plenty of vitamin C, along with potassium, folic acid, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, zinc, copper, manganese and more. It works as an antioxidant, meaning it boosts disease resistance.

Saifur Rahman said that although the fruit is grown in Saudi Arabia and its neighbouring countries, it has adapted to our climate, and it has bright prospects here.

Source: Prothom Alo. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.