On the hill land, Rupban bean flowers bloom as far as the eye can see. In places, purple beans hang in bunches; elsewhere bunches have just been picked. Some farmers are picking beans for market while others tend the vines. This was the scene on Bara Kumira hill in Kumira union, Sitakunda. Because the Rupban variety is planted in summer, it is called a summer bean.

Hundreds of farmers have succeeded in growing beans on the hills. The crop is grown at more than 400 spots across the hills, from Chhotodarogarhat to Salimpur in the upazila. By producing various summer bean varieties, growers meet local demand and also export abroad.

Jahangir Alam, a farmer in the Dharmapur area, said: "We started growing different crops on the hills. We don't have to pay rent or money to anyone, and there's no worry about irrigation."

Sitakunda upazila is famous for beans. Its winter beans, especially the churi, loitta and bata types, are in high demand. But because summer beans are also tasty and profitable, their cultivation is growing day by day. According to the upazila agriculture department, summer beans were grown on 28 hectares in Sitakunda in 2023, rising to 30 hectares this year.

Farmers Jahangir Alam and Delwar Hossain said: "We have been growing summer beans on the hills for almost 10 years. At the start of the harvest we sold beans at Tk 160–170 a kg. They are still selling at Tk 140. Wholesalers come from Dhaka, Chattogram and other parts of the country to take them."

Local people said beans are grown on the Sitakunda hills where, because the land is remote, production costs are somewhat higher. On flat land, heavy monsoon rain causes waterlogging that can ruin the vines, but water does not stand on the hills, so the plants are not damaged. As bean growing on the hills spreads, the amount of fallow land is falling. Rupban beans also keep bearing for longer than winter beans, so they are more profitable.

According to the upazila agriculture department, about 300 farmers in Sitakunda have grown summer Rupban beans, mostly on the hills of Kumira and Banshbaria. They are also grown in Banshbaria, Syedpur, Baraiyardhala and Sitakunda municipality.

Union sub-assistant agriculture officer Sujan Ghosh said: "On each market day (twice a week) farmers sell at least 15 tonnes of beans from the union. Fifteen tonnes of beans are now worth Tk 15–18 lakh. We advise farmers in various ways, including on the sprays needed to hold the flowers once they appear. We go to the hills to supervise from time to time."

Upazila agriculture officer Md Habibullah said: "This bean bears for a long time and fetches a higher price than winter beans, so farmers are turning to summer beans. Bean cultivation is increasing every year. Like winter beans, Rupban beans are very tasty, so they have a good reputation among consumers."

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