In Dewanganj upazila of Jamalpur, farmers are earning from water chestnut grown on land that lies under water for much of the year and can support no other crop. Low costs and good yields are drawing more growers each year, Daily Bangladesh reported.
Large water bodies and low-lying fields across the upazila are now covered with the plant's green leaves. Farmers wade in to pick the ripe fruit, which they carry in baskets and sacks to local markets. Known locally as 'shingara', the fruit's white kernel is boiled for breakfast, ripe fruit is cooked as a vegetable, and dried fruit is ground by machine or dhenki into flour for flatbread.
Farmers say cash is scarce in the Bengali months of Kartik and Agrahayan, and money from water chestnut sales helps them through. Farmer Jamal Uddin said the land used to lie idle; now water chestnut leaves a profit after costs, and with good prices a family can live on it.
Picking, sorting and transporting the crop also creates work for labourers. Upazila agriculture officer Ratan Mia said land that stays submerged for long periods has good potential for water chestnut, and farmers are being encouraged and given advice and technical support. Agriculturists hope the fruit could also be processed into glucose.
Farmers say better seedlings, easy-term credit, advice and fair prices would let the crop spread further. Bringing waterlogged, uncultivated land under water chestnut would raise farm incomes and create local jobs, they say.
Photo: Steve Hurst, USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Wikimedia Commons (public domain)
Source: Daily Bangladesh
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