Water chestnut (panifal) has started arriving in markets across Satkhira district. Farmers hope to profit from selling the early crop, and demand is rising as the fruit takes its place in the market alongside other fruit. It is popular, tasty and nutritious.

According to the local agriculture office, commercial cultivation of water chestnut began in the district a decade ago. It is an aquatic plant that grows in ponds, beels and wetlands, and each plant can grow up to about 5 metres long. Locals also call it "pani shingara".

Growers said water chestnut is planted in the Bengali months of Bhadra and Ashwin and harvested in Agrahayan and Poush. The fruit is red when young, turns green and then black when ripe. Under its thick soft skin is soft white flesh, heart-shaped or triangular. The soft flesh of the unripe fruit is very tasty. It is eaten raw but can also be boiled.

Abdul Gaffar of Sakhipur village in Debhata upazila said: "I have been growing water chestnut for several years. At first people did not respond much, but demand is growing day by day. Water chestnut is grown on several thousand bighas of wetland in the area. Besides the local market, wholesalers from different parts of the country are buying the fruit."

Grower Shahidul Islam said he leased 5 bighas this year to start growing water chestnut. The crop has shown him promise of profit from the start, and he plans to farm more land next year.

Another grower, Shamsur Rahman, said: "I have been growing water chestnut for more than 10 years. This year I have planted 10 bighas and am getting 15-20 maunds a bigha. At the start I am selling wholesale at Tk 40 a kg and making a profit. Native fish are also farmed on this land, and selling fish brings extra income."

Abdul Gafur, a water chestnut retailer at Sakhipur crossing, said he buys at Tk 40 a kg and sells at Tk 50, making Tk 10 a kg and earning Tk 500-700 a day.

Imran Hossain of the Sakhipur Women's College area said he collects water chestnuts from farmers every morning and sells them all day. The business meets his family's needs, and it has created work for many people in the area, he said.

Wholesale trader Rabiul Islam said he invests money with more than 50 growers before the season and later buys their crop at market prices. He has been in the water chestnut business for more than 10-12 years. Every day he supplies the fruit to Dhaka, Khulna, Barishal, Barguna, Chattogram, Sylhet, Rajshahi, Benapole, Jashore, Natore, Bogura, Darshana, Chuadanga, Magura and other places, selling wholesale at prices that vary by market outside the district.

Sub-assistant agriculture officer Md Yunus Ali said water chestnut is being grown on about 50 hectares in Debhata this year. Farmers will make a profit of Tk 20,000-25,000 a bigha from yields of 15-20 maunds a bigha.

Upazila agriculture officer Shawkat Osman said that although water chestnut is not counted as a crop of the farm sector, it may soon be brought into it. Cultivation has increased compared with other years, and growers are being given the advice and support they need. Because it costs little to grow and pays well for little work, growers' interest rises every year, he said.

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