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- Strawberry farming makes people happy in Rajshahi
By dint of its expanded farming and good harvest, strawberry is now being sold by the vendors side by side with the markets in Rajshahi city and its adjacent areas frequently. Commercial farming of strawberry has been gaining momentum in the region as its cultivation is easier and highly profitable. Strawberry, a succulent fruit popular in different parts of the globe, is also gradually becoming popular among both the growers and consumers level. Farmers' level extension of strawberry farming has brought a new horizon to the agriculture sector. Anwar Hossain, 45, of Naodapara village under Charghat upazila in the district, cultivated strawberry on his 24 decimals of land, and earned around Taka 1.20 lakh as profits last year. This year, delighted Hossain has expanded his farming and taken the lease of another bigha of land for strawberry cultivation for a payment of Taka 1.5 lakh. At present, he expects to earn Taka 2.5 lakh as profits. Chand Sarker, a 25-year-old young farmer of Shahapur Purbapara village in the upazila, said once he was unemployed, and was moving from door to door for work, but in vain. Finally, he heard about strawberry cultivation from his friend, and took the initiative on his land, located on the northern side of the Padma. This year, he cultivated strawberry on roughly one bigha of land, spending around Taka 30,000. Meanwhile, he has already sold strawberries worth around Taka 1 lakh, and expects to sell more for Taka 80,000 over the next two months. "I hope to make net profits of around Taka 1.5 lakh this year from strawberry farming. If I get more lands, I'll expand the farming on a large scale next year," Sarker asserted. Despite being a foreign fruit with which few are acquainted, strawberry cultivation is gaining popularity day by day at different places in the region. The reasonable price of this juicy and mouth-watering fruit is the main reason for this. Over 500 farmers of the area have cultivated strawberries on around 29 hectares of lands this year, sources concerned said. Now, a large number of people, mostly unemployed youths, have become dependent on strawberry farming to earn a living, as its cultivation is easier and more profitable than other crops, he said. The youths are supplying strawberry to different markets across the country as the soft fruit is being used in preparing ice-cream, jam, jelly, pickle, chocolate and biscuit. Prof Dr Manzur Hossain, who is pioneer in the country's strawberry research, variety innovation and growers' level farming expansion, said , "Strawberry cultivation is as easy as growing potato or eggplant. The plants start flowering within one month of plantation and fruits can be collected till March." Each plant bears around 250 to 300 grams of fruit and some 6,000 plants can be grown on one bigha of land, Dr Islam said. With farmer- level price of around Taka 600 per kg, the commercially potential fruit will have a bigger market locally and globally and benefit farmers enormously. There has been a bright prospect of farming strawberry, high-value crop, everywhere in the country excepting the coastal districts. The red juicy and nutritious fruit produced by him is now being supplied to posh markets in the capital Dhaka. The country can earn huge foreign currencies from strawberry export if its commercial farming starts at national level, Dr Manjur hoped. "The fruit will no doubt be a profitable crop for farmers. If it is grown on a large scale, the highly nutritious fruit has started coming within the reach of the common people. There will be no need for imports," said Prof Manzur. Due attention should be given to motivating the farmers so that they could be encouraged towards farming the crop commercially as it has high economic importance. Source: BSS.
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