Our Correspondent :
A college student Manjurul Ahsan of Jashore’s Sharsha Upazila has achieved great success by cultivating foreign vegetable squash. With the help of the Upazila Agriculture Department, he has found it very profitable by growing squash in his 20 decimals land along with winter vegetables.
Farmer Manjurul Ahsan, son of Monsur Ahsan, is a resident of Shikarpur village of Laxkonpur union of Sharsha upazila. He is a second year student of Govt Birshrestha Noor Mohammad Degree College.
Manjurul Ahsan said, for several years, I was cultivating various kinds of vegetables and fruits including mango, plum, tomato, cucumber, cabbage and cauliflower. I collected squash seeds advice of the Agriculture Department of Sharsha Upazila after watching the video on YouTube. Later seeds like sweet pumpkin or gourd are sown at home.
After the seedlings grow, they are planted in the ground using mulching method. After about a month and a half the fruits start coming. The exotic squash plant is very similar to the sweet pumpkin. There is no way to tell whether it is a sweet pumpkin or a squash plant by looking at the leaves, tips, and stems.
Ahsan said ‘I have cultivated these foreign vegetables on the land for about 20 Satok. Plants grow within a few days of seed planting and flower within 35 days of planting. Fruits should be collected within 10-15 days of pollination. It takes two months from seeding to fruiting.
The flowers and fruits look like sweet pumpkins. Squash fruits can be marketed within 55-60 days. The average yield of squash per hectare is 45-50 tones. Depending on the caste, the time may be shorter or longer.
Manjurul also said, ‘2200 summer squash plants are available in one season from 1 bigha of land. A squash plant yields an average of 12-15 kg. About 24,000 kg of yield is available in one bigha of land. Squash production costs 9-10 thousand per bigha of land. One bigha of land has a profit of 60-70 thousand taka.
