Because it is made from watermelon, the jaggery has been named "Togur". Farmer Mrityunjoy Mondal of Chhotobond village in Dumuria upazila, Khulna, has astonished people by producing gur from watermelon with the help of the agriculture department.

Mrityunjoy Mondal said he started growing watermelon in 2019 and succeeded. Then, since watermelon juice is sweet and thin, he boiled it down and succeeded in making gur.

He added that at first he made about three kilograms of gur and gave it to neighbours, the upazila agriculture officer and many others to taste. Many also wanted to buy it at Tk 300 a kg.

Dumuria Upazila Agriculture Officer Md Mosaddek Hossain, an agriculturist, said the country's gur industry is shrinking day by day. The number of palm and date palm trees is falling, and so is the number of gachhis who collect sap from the trees. The coastal saline areas, meanwhile, are very well suited to watermelon, yet farmers do not get a fair price for watermelon during the season. Watermelon gur has therefore created a new opportunity in agriculture, and if it is made commercially, farmers will get a fair price, he said.

Source: Dhaka Tribune. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.