Sammam is a tasty, high-yielding fruit. From outside it looks rather like a wood apple or pomelo, but inside it is juicy like a watermelon. Young entrepreneur Tarikul Islam Tareq (22) has caused a stir by growing this new fruit for the first time, and many people are coming to see it after hearing about the harvest.

Tarikul is the son of Abdul Hakim of Satpoya Dakshin Para village in Sarishabari municipality, Jamalpur. He is a third-year student at Sarishabari Honours College. Alongside his studies, he took up growing the fruit after watching YouTube.

The upazila agriculture office says sammam is a popular fruit in the Middle East and is also known in Bangladesh as rockmelon. Although it is a desert fruit, it is now being grown in the country's soil. Sammam is grown using the mulching method, and the fruit can be harvested 60 to 70 days after planting seedlings. A ripe sammam weighs about 2 to 2.5 kg. Using very little fertiliser and pesticide, it gives a large yield at low cost, which is why young entrepreneurs are increasingly turning to it. This is helping to reduce unemployment while the country's agriculture moves forward, the office says.

On the spot, seedlings have been planted through mulching sheets and the vines trained onto trellises. Sammams of all sizes hang tied in nets, row upon row swaying in the light breeze. Some weigh 1 kg and others more than 2 kg. They will start ripening in a few days, and visitors are crowding beside the field to see them.

A farmer named Abdul Alim Sabuj told Jago News: "The area is well known for vegetables. Every household here is like a farm; you will not find anyone who does not grow vegetables. Last year I made a profit from watermelon, and I have grown watermelon this year too. In future I will grow rockmelon, or sammam."

Tarikul Islam Tareq told Jago News: "I was inspired to grow it by watching YouTube. It cost Tk 4,000-5,000 on 4 decimals of land. The yield has been good the first time. At current market prices, I may be able to sell fruit worth more than half a lakh taka. With regular advice from the agriculture department my interest is growing. As I am working while still a student, I want a low-interest loan so that I can farm on a larger scale in future."

Sarishabari Upazila Agriculture Officer Anup Singha told Jago News: "Rockmelon is being grown in various places in our upazila, and young entrepreneurs are interested in the crop. We are visiting fields and giving regular advice on behalf of the agriculture department. We have heard that a young man named Tarikul is growing it. We will try to give him full support from the agriculture department."

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