Vegetable growers in Sirajganj are turning to plastic mulch. Figures from the district office of the Department of Agricultural Extension show vegetables were sown in all nine upazilas this season, on 2,725 hectares in all. Cucumber alone took 130 hectares, and as part of a push to spread modern farm technology 60 per cent of that land was planted on plastic mulch in the form of demonstration plots.

Extension officers put the yield on mulched land at about 40 to 45 maunds of cucumber a bigha. Farmers in the field say fruiting begins only 30 to 45 days after the seedlings go in, and the prospect of an income in that short a span is drawing more growers to the method.

The technique is simple. A thin plastic film is laid over the bed before planting and the seedlings are set through holes cut at fixed spacings. Weeds cannot spread, the soil keeps its moisture and nutrients for far longer, and tending the plants becomes easier. Because the cucumbers never touch the soil, insect attack falls and the fruit keeps its shape and quality.

Jasim Uddin, a farmer in Sirajganj Sadar upazila, said his mulched cucumber did better than he had expected: the seedlings grew fast and fruited heavily all at once, and the crop is fetching a good price in the market.

Fazlul Haque, a farmer in Ullapara, has had a mixed season. "I got a bumper crop of brinjal and cucumber on mulch, and my tending costs came down a lot," he said. But supply has risen and the price has slipped: a maund of cucumber now sells for Tk 1,100 to Tk 1,200, which he says leaves little of the profit he wants once production costs are met. A fair price, he argues, would bring many more farmers to the method.

Subarna Yasmin Sumi, the upazila agriculture officer for Ullapara, said both the yield and the quality of mulch-grown brinjal and cucumber have been excellent and local interest is rising by the day. If growers are assured a fair market price, she expects the method to spread faster across the district; the department is giving regular advice and technical support.

A K M Manjure Maula, deputy director of the Department of Agricultural Extension in Sirajganj, said: "Cucumber on mulch is giving very promising yields. We have taken steps to spread the method across the district by extending the demonstration plots and providing the technical advice that is needed."

The report was filed by Gazi Shahadat Hossain Firozi, Protidiner Sangbad's Sirajganj correspondent.

Source: Protidiner Sangbad