Nutritious gachh alu (aerial yam) and mete alu are being grown commercially in Pakundia, Kishoreganj. This season the crop covers 402 hectares in the upazila, with an estimated market value of about Tk 20 crore. Those involved believe that with proper care it could meet domestic demand and be exported as well. Because profit is high compared with cost, new farmers are taking it up.

Gachh alu needs no separate land, fertiliser or extra care, and yields as a companion crop. It is planted at the start of April, when pumpkin, snake gourd and ridge gourd are coming up on the field trellises, and the same trellis yields gachh alu from mid-August. With few other vegetables in the market during the monsoon, demand is good, and farmers know it as a vegetable for the lean season. The mete alu plant also produces tubers of 3 to 20 kg underground. Compared with other crops, gachh alu is more profitable at low cost and with no labour, so it has become very popular across the upazila.

Farmers Alauddin and Raihan Mia of Charterotekia in the upazila said growing gachh alu costs only Tk 2,000 to Tk 3,000 an acre. Every 10 decimals yields 30 to 35 maunds above ground, which sells at Tk 40 to Tk 45 a kg, and 25 to 30 maunds below ground, which sells at Tk 1,400 to Tk 1,600 a maund. After harvest the yams are cleaned and processed for market, and the crop has created work for many women in the area.

"At this time farmers bring the yams home from the fields," said Jahura Begum of Charterotekia. "There are so many that they bring them to us for work. We clean them and earn some money, which covers the household's extra expenses."

Md Bazlur Rahman, sub-assistant agriculture officer for the Charterotekia block, said: "Because the soil in most of Charfaradi union is loam and sandy loam and the environment is suitable, gachh or mete alu is grown at no cost through mixed and relay cropping. So local farmers are becoming more interested in growing it commercially day by day."

Upazila agriculture officer Nur-E-Alam, an agriculturist, said the department is helping farmers in various ways to raise production. This season 402 hectares have been planted in Pakundia, the most compared with other districts of the country, with an estimated market value of about Tk 20 crore. Because the crop has few diseases, costs are also low.

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