Safe spiny gourds go to ME countries from Kaliganj

KALIGANJ, GAZIPUR, Sept 23: Birtul and Gararia of Nagri Union in Kaliganj Upazila of the district have been declared villages of safe vegetables.

This declaration has been made by the Kaliganj Upazila Agriculture Office.

Without any insecticide, growers of these villages have cultivated vegetables by using different agriculture technologies. Of all vegetables, spiny gourd of these villages is highly demanding.
After meeting demands of Dhaka and other parts of the country, spiny gourds are exported to different Middle East countries.  
Birtul and Gararia villages are along the banks of the Balu River.
    
Seeing success in producing spiny gourd by growers of these villages, other growers of Bagdi, Parwan and Paanjour villages of the same union are also cultivating poison-free spiny gourd.

According to sources at the Upazila Agriculture office, to ensure safe vegetable items, growers used sex pheromone trap, yellow sticky trap, hand-pollination, IPA Technology, bagging, healthy and good seeds, balanced fertilizer, mulching, vermicompost, and organic insecticide.

A grower of Birtul Village Kalipada Chandra Das said, "I cultivated spiny gourd on 1.25 bighas of land at Tk 70,000/80,000. I have got a profit of about Tk 2 lakh. I am getting inspiration from the local agriculture office."

Grower Pramesh Chandra of the same village said, "Wholesalers are coming to purchase spiny gourds in farms. We don't need to bring our produce to markets. Our profits are increasing."

Growers Nihar Chandra Das of the village said, "Vegetables of our village are poison-free. Spiny gourds from this village are going to different Middle East countries."

Growers of Bagdi, Parwan and Panjour villages said, "If at least a vegetable bazaar is opened at each union, we, the growers, will get fair prices beyond the syndicate."

Sub-Assistant (Botany Preservation) Officer Md Aktaruzzaman said, "We provide different types of advice at different times to spiny gourd growers of Birtul and Gararia villages. Environment-friendly spiny gourds are cultivated in these villages."

Kaliganj Upazila Agriculture Officer Farzana Taslim said, "As summer vegetable spiny gourd is a popular vegetable. It is cultivated in two seasons of Kharip-1 and 2. Spiny gourd is a potential crop in Kaliganj as it is being exported to different Middle East countries."

In fact, these two villages have been declared safe vegetable villages in order to make agriculture poison-free, he added.