A vegetable is showing farmers in Pakundia, Kishoreganj, a new path: gach alu. Unlike the ordinary potato, it does not grow underground but hangs from vines on trellises. Locals call it "pan alu" or "gach alu". A few years ago it was grown experimentally on a small area of land; now it is spreading commercially.

Gach alu trellises can now be seen across the upazila's unions. From a distance they look like a green jungle. The seedlings are planted on the same trellis after sponge gourd or snake gourd has been harvested, and the crop is ready in just three to four months.

Farmers say gach alu is cheap to grow and needs little fertiliser or pesticide. Farmer Abdul Kader said: "It cost me about Tk 35,000 on one bigha of land. I got about Tk 1 lakh from selling the potatoes. After costs, I made a good profit."

Farmer Safir Uddin said: "I get the gach alu harvest at the end of the monsoon, when vegetable supply in the market is low. There is huge demand, so the price is good too. I am now selling it at Tk 35 to 40 a kg."

While the ordinary potato is selling at Tk 25 a kg, gach alu fetches about one and a half times as much. By farmers' reckoning, a profit of a lakh taka is possible in one season on a spend of just Tk 30,000 to 40,000. The extra profit is drawing new farmers to the crop every day.

Agriculture department officials see gach alu as a promising new cash crop for Bangladesh. In their view it is not just a new vegetable but a new horizon for the country's farm sector, and a profitable alternative for farmers after the monsoon, when other crops do not yield well.

Emdadul Haque, sub-assistant agriculture officer for Charfaradi block, said: "Gach alu has become a new opportunity for farmers here. They are getting good yields at very low cost, and demand in the market is growing day by day. We regularly advise farmers to plant seedlings at the right time and look after the trellises. This crop will not only raise farmers' incomes but could make Pakundia a model for other parts of the country. If export opportunities open up in future, farmers' living standards will improve further."

Pakundia upazila agriculture officer Nur-e-Alam said: "Gach alu is a nutritious and tasty vegetable. It yields well at the end of the monsoon even when there are no other crops. We are already spreading its cultivation to different districts of the country. Since it can be stored for a long time, there is also potential to export it."

This season gach alu has been grown on about 3,000 bighas in Pakundia, with a production target of about 500 tonnes. The agriculture department hopes the new crop will not only improve local farmers' lives but could also become a major source of foreign exchange.

Farmers in Pakundia say gach alu is now a symbol of new hope for them. Low costs on one side and high prices on the other have brought them relief, putting smiles back on farmers' faces and giving the rural economy a boost.

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