Watermelons of many varieties and colours hang from vines on trellises. Farmer Abdul Quddus is delighted with the yield hanging from rows of green plants. After hard work through sun and rain, the crop is now being marketed. Abdul Quddus has scored a success growing summer watermelon in Mirsharai, Chattogram.

Abdul Quddus, from Jamalpur district, has lived in the area for two decades. He grew summer watermelon on 50 decimals in Masjidia village of Khoiyachhara union, Mirsharai upazila, spending Tk 50,000 this season using mulching and organic methods.

In his field, watermelons of different colours grown under mulch hung from the plants, and he was busy harvesting with several labourers. He has planted high-yielding summer varieties Suryadim, Rasgolla, Big Bite, Leona, Jafran, Sweet Bite and King Super.

"With help and advice from the upazila agriculture office, I planted summer watermelon on 50 decimals 65 days ago. The yield is good. I started selling on 29 October. The melons in the field weigh from 2.5 kg to 4.5 kg. I hope to produce about 4 tonnes," Abdul Quddus told Jago News.

"The agriculture office gave me cash, fertiliser and inputs for farming. My total cost was Tk 50,000. I sold the watermelons to a wholesaler for Tk 1.5 lakh. If I had sold them retail, perhaps I could have made Tk 2 lakh," he said.

Watermelon wholesaler Md Helal Uddin said: "I bought Abdul Quddus's field for Tk 1.5 lakh. For the first time, watermelons have been harvested from the field and brought to market. They are selling at Tk 70-80 a kg. Each melon weighs 2 to 4.5 kg. I hope I may be able to sell Tk 2.2 lakh worth."

Mohammad Shahjahan, sub-assistant agriculture officer for the Khoiyachhara-Masjidia block, said: "Under the SACP project, we set up five summer watermelon demonstrations in the Khoiyachhara-Masjidia block of the upazila in the 2024-25 fiscal year. The agriculture office provided fertiliser, seed and mulching paper along with financial grants."

"Abdul Quddus has done well. His crop matured in a very short time. It is not yet time to harvest in other farmers' fields; they sowed late in the hope of a better profit. Abdul Quddus has made a profit of about Tk 1 lakh," he said.

Mirsharai upazila agriculture officer Protap Chandra Roy told Jago News that about eight farmers in Mirsharai have grown various summer watermelon varieties. Of them, only Abdul Quddus's crop is being marketed; the others are not yet ready.

"The others can be marketed within the next 10-15 days. We are giving watermelon growers the utmost support. Because it is profitable, the number of summer watermelon growers is gradually increasing, and I am hopeful it will grow further," he said.

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