Chattogram farmer earns Tk 1.08 lakh from first sammam melon crop

Ekhlas Uddin, a farmer from Manikpur village in Kanchannagar union of Fatikchhari upazila, Chattogram, has had a good harvest from sammam, a melon known in Bangladesh as a fruit of desert regions. He took up the crop after watching videos on YouTube and planted it for the first time on 40 decimals of land on a char of the Dhurung river.

He laid mulching paper over the field and planted 2,400 seedlings, at a cost of about Tk 45,000. The plants began to fruit a month and a half after planting, and almost every plant is now bearing. The fertile char soil has given a good yield.

He has already sold 1,800 kg of sammam for Tk 108,000, and about 1,500 kg of fruit remains in the field. In all he hopes to sell Tk 2 lakh to 2.5 lakh worth this season. He is selling at Tk 70 a kilogram wholesale; traders buy directly from the field, and buyers come from the upazila town and other areas.

The fruit is light green outside with yellow flesh; it tastes sweet but has no particular smell. Before sammam, Ekhlas grew bananas, jujube and other fruit and farm produce, and he has also traded in trees.

This is the first commercial planting of the fruit on the Dhurung char in Kanchannagar union, and his success has stirred interest among other farmers in the area. According to the agriculture department, five other farmers in different unions of Fatikchhari have also grown sammam this season.

Ekhlas says he started on 40 decimals as a trial, and besides the income he has gained experience with a new crop. Encouraged by the first season, he plans to grow sammam on a larger area next season.

Fatikchhari upazila agriculture officer Abu Salek said sammam has been grown in Fatikchhari for several years, but this is the first commercial crop on the Dhurung char, and Ekhlas has done well with it. The agriculture department has given him advice and technical support from the start, he said.

This report is based on a dispatch from Krishi Shomoy's Chattogram correspondent.

Photo: Scott Bauer, USDA / Wikimedia Commons (public domain)

Source: Krishi Shomoy