ZCZC
BSS-06
GUAVA-FARMING-RIVERBED (with picture)
Guava farming delights Rajshahi riverbed farmers
By Dr Aynal Haque
RAJSHAHI, May 25, 2021 (BSS)- Commercial farming of guava has started changing fortunes of many farmers in Char (riverbed) areas of the region generating hopes of improving their living and livelihood conditions.
Abul Kalam Azad, 55, a resident of Char Mazar Diar village under Paba upazila, has created a path of earning a neat profit of around Taka one lakh yearly.
“I had planted 230 guava trees on two bighas of land around three years back. Each of the trees is yielding 30 to 35 kilograms of fruit on an average at present,” Azad said, adding that each of the fruits weighing 300 to 500 grams.
Many of his co-villagers are seen cultivating high-yielding guava commercially side by side with other seasonal fruits and vegetables aimed at attaining economic emancipation.
Azad said they have obtained knowledge on how to protect the green fruits from pest-attacks. They are adopting fruit bagging technology to this end.
For the last couple of years, the villagers are cultivating guava commercially instead of the high-irrigating crops, Iqbal Hossain, sub assistant agriculture officer, said, adding:”Farming acreage of various less water consuming crops are increasing gradually.”
He told BSS that guava has been cultivated on around 105 hectares of land only in the Char Mazar Diar village. “We are extending need-based suggestions and technological support for the cultivators,” he said.
Upazila Agriculture Officer Shaila Sharmin said commercial farming of high yielding guava has been gaining popularity in the region including its char (riverbed) areas of the Padma river and Barind tract and as the farmers reap better yield and get fair market price from the cash crop.
A large number of growers have attained financial solvency by growing the fruit on their lands while Thai guava cultivation is expanding in the areas for good market price bringing a new dimension in the local economy.
As a whole, the Thai guava farming has brought a smile on the faces of grassroots farmers in the region this season.
Agriculturist Sharmin said guava farming through using fruit bagging technology has also been gradually gaining popularity in the region including its vast Barind tract for the past couple of years.
In the field of protecting the cash crop from pest attack besides getting quality yield, fruit bagging technology is being adjudged as very much beneficial to commercial fruit farming.
The growers are seen using fruit bagging technology in guava orchards in the region comprising Rajshahi, Chapainawabganj, Naogaon and Natore districts commercially, said Sirajul Islam, additional director of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE).
Earlier, they have used the modern technology in some of the mango orchards and attained significant success in this regard.
Talking to BSS here Agriculturist Islam said there are huge guava trees of different ages and varieties on some two lakh hectares of land in the region with creation of many more new more orchards and increased guava farming in the homesteads in recent years.
If the bags were used substantially, use of harmful chemical insecticides and pesticides could be reduced to a greater extent on the huge trees.
Thai guava cultivation is playing an important role in improving socio-economic conditions in the northern region, he said, adding the fruit has a good demand everywhere in the country.
“I have a Thai guava orchard on two and a half bigha of land. I have been harvesting guava from the orchard during the last couple of years and getting a better yield,” said Abdus Sabur, a farmer of the Char Saheb Nagar village under Godagari upazila.
At present, farmers in most of the char areas like Alatoly, Diar Manik Chalk, Asariadaha, Mazar Diar, Taranagar, Khidirpur, Khanpur, Shyampur and Gargori are cultivating guava along with other seasonal fruits and cereal crops on commercial basis to earn more profit, he further said.
BSS/SPL/AH/SSS/1239 hrs