Farmers have grown watermelons commercially on fallow land across the wide chars of Mirsharai upazila in Chattogram. Thanks to better roads and easy marketing, the tasty, sweet watermelons from here go to consumers in districts around the country. The upazila agriculture department is hopeful that Tk 20 crore of watermelons will be produced this season.

In the rabi season, with suitable weather and sandy soil on the fallow char land, watermelons have been grown on about 500 acres in the char areas of Ichhakhali, Saherkhali and Mithanala unions. Last year they were grown on 350 acres; this year farmers have added another 150 acres. Because watermelons are profitable, the area is growing year by year. Most plants are now flowering, and buds and fruit have begun to appear. Most of the char lies empty in the rabi season, but this year farmers are seeing hope in watermelons.

A visit to the three unions found green vines spreading across wide stretches of char, where most of the land once lay empty. Agri-entrepreneurs from Subarnachar upazila in Noakhali are growing watermelons with ample water drawn from the Ichhakhali canal. Farmers were tending the plants, some watering at the roots.

Local farmers said they too wanted to grow watermelons if they got help from the upazila agriculture office, since the farmers from Subarnachar who sharecrop their land are profiting.

Because the soil here suits watermelons, the Subarnachar entrepreneurs sharecropped land from locals last December for five months at Tk 10,000–15,000 an acre and sowed watermelon seed. With sandy loam soil, a suitable environment and ample water from the Ichhakhali canal in East Ichhakhali village, 16 entrepreneurs took up watermelon farming this year. They first had the soil tested in a laboratory, then began growing commercially. On local farmers' land they have grown eight varieties of watermelon from China, America and Bangladesh. More than a hundred workers are employed under them on the 500 acres.

Farmers said that with proper care, success is possible with watermelons. But the plants are attacked by fungi and other diseases, so pesticides must be applied at the right time. The entrepreneurs expressed frustration that they had not received help when they contacted the upazila agriculture office.

Watermelon grower Nurul Mostafa said: "This time, at the end of December, 16 of us planted watermelon seedlings on 165 kani of land. The plants have now begun to flower and bud. I hope the yield will be good."

Harun-or-Rashid complained: "The agriculture officers do not come here. When the harvest from a field is over, they come and say this plant needs this medicine and that plant needs that one. If they told us the right medicine when we planted, the crop would be bigger."

Ichhakhali union parishad chairman Nurul Mostafa said: "This year some entrepreneurs from the Subarnachar area have grown watermelons. The plants are growing well, so there is a chance of a bumper crop. With training from here, watermelons could be grown in various villages of Mirsharai."

Upazila agriculture officer Pratap Chandra Roy said: "Plenty of watermelons have been grown at Ichhakhali and Saherkhali in Mirsharai upazila. If the weather stays favourable, there is a chance of a good yield. At 38 lakh tonnes, about Tk 19–20 crore of watermelons will be produced this time."

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