Patuakhali Correspondent:

When Aman rice is nearly ready for harvest, farmers fill small polythene bags with soil and sow one watermelon seed in each bag at various locations around the house—in the veranda, in corners of rooms, or at the edges of fields.

As the seedlings grow, farmers prepare the fields for watermelon cultivation after harvesting rice. The field is left to dry in the sun after one round of cultivation.

After several phases of cultivation, farmers create raised beds in the field. Once the seedlings in polybags reach 20-30 days, they are transplanted into these raised beds, given regular care and irrigation. As a result, farmers harvest watermelons ahead of the designated season.

Many farmers leave their fields abandoned between planting watermelon crops. They said that continuous cultivation of watermelon in the same field results in poor yields. To avoid this, they take breaks of two to three seasons or leave the field fallow during the Aman season before planting watermelon again.

WHY WATERMELON IN POLYBAGS?

Champapur union in Patuakhali is located far from Kalapara upazila. Like other coastal areas, the main occupations here are fishing and agriculture. The Champapur union parishad is next to the No 70 Patua Government Primary School, where Dilara Parveen is the headmistress. Her husband, Shajahan Padda, along with other family members, has been involved in agriculture for their livelihood. They started growing watermelon in 2010 and this has been profitable every year. However, in the past three to four years, watermelon farming has faced difficulties.

Dilara Parveen said, “Last year, I planted watermelon on about 4.5 kani (approximately 7.5 acres) of land. The yield was so good that buyers offered Tk 1.2 million for all watermelons. We were just waiting for the harvest, but then heavy rains for five to six days flooded the field, and most of the watermelons were ruined. I couldn’t even earn Tk 70,000 taka.” This year, they are planting early watermelons on at least five acres of land using the polybag method.

Masum Billah, a watermelon farmer in Char Montaz of Rangabali, had a similar experience. In 2023, he planted watermelons on two kani (approximately 3.25 acres) of land but faced loss due to excessive rain. This year, following advice from the local agricultural department, he is planting early watermelons in polybags.

According to the Salinity Management and Research Centre at the Soil Resource Development Institute in Khulna, watermelon cultivation began in Khulna and its surrounding districts around 2010-11. Prior to this, crops like moong dal (lentils), sesame were grown after Aman rice. However, irregular rainfall in 2007-08 disrupted sesame farming, leading farmers to shift to watermelon cultivation.

The centre said that farmers face challenges like irregular rainfall and salinity. In coastal areas, salinity increases in the soil starting from January, reaching a level of 3-4 dS. As time passes, the salinity level rises. With freshwater irrigation, the salinity level can be controlled to around 9-10 dS, which doesn’t affect crops. Without irrigation, salinity can rise to 15-16 dS, making cultivation impossible. The acceptable salinity level for crop production is 2 dS.

Moreover, even after harvesting Aman rice, the soil remains wet. By the time it dries, it is often March, which delays planting watermelons in these areas. As a result, farmers in these regions have to wait until March to sow watermelon seeds, by which time watermelons from hilly areas are already ready for consumption. This leads to lower profits for coastal farmers.

Amarendranath Biswas, the chief scientific officer at the Soil Salinity Management and Research Centre, told this correspondent that soil tests from Khulna have shown an increase in salinity from 2000 to 2009. From 2009 to 2013, salinity decreased slightly but began to rise again after 2020 with rising temperatures and irregular rainfall. Tests conducted last year found salinity levels as high as 20-22 dS in non-irrigated fields.

Watermelons planted in March are also vulnerable to Nor’westers which bring hail and wind, causing significant damage to crops.

In July 2018, the Soil Salinity Management and Research Center launched a project called “Agricultural Development in Gopalganj, Khulna, Satkhira, Bagerhat, and Pirojpur,” under which the polybag method for producing watermelon seedlings was developed.

This innovation was led by chief scientific officer Sachindra Nath Biswas (now retired) and Amarendranath Biswas who is now the chief scientific officer.

In 2022, the Salinity Management and Research Center recognised the polybag method as a new technique for watermelon cultivation and published a booklet on it, according to Amarendranath. He claims that they were the first to invent the method of producing watermelon seedlings through polybags.

Farmers in Patuakhali said they have also been using this polybag method for the past 4-5 years, with guidance from agricultural officers.

Farmers and agricultural researchers highlight several advantages of this method. For example, the seedlings in polybags are protected from excessive sunlight, and a plastic cover can shield them from cold weather. In the traditional method, farmers sow two seeds per hole, but with polybags, only one seed per bag is sufficient.

Nazrul Islam, deputy director at the Patuakhali Agricultural Extension Department, said that red insects tend to eat the young leaves of seedlings before they reach 20 days of age. However, polybag cultivation prevents this insect attack.

Though the Patuakhali Agricultural Extension Department does not have statistics on polybag watermelon cultivation, Nazrul Islam predicts that around 30,000 hectares of land will be used for watermelon cultivation this season, with 10-12 thousand hectares using the polybag method.

400-500pc Profit

In early December, Forkan Majhi was preparing land for watermelon cultivation in Meraopara, Lalua, Kalapara. Though not from the area, he leased five acres of land in Meraopara to grow watermelons using the polybag method. Forkan, who has been growing watermelons in his home region for 15 years. The rice has not yet been harvested from his land, so he is farming on leased land far away.

Forkan shared an estimate of costs for watermelon farming. For five acres, 16,000 trays of seedlings are needed, costing around TK 30,000 per acre for seeds. Tractor costs for land preparation come to Tk 25,000, and irrigation costs range from Tk 75,000 to Tk 100,000 per acre. In total, the cost per acre is between Tk 100,000 and Tk 150,000. If all goes well, each acre will yield watermelons worth Tk 500,000 to Tk 600,000. According to Forkan, the profit margin for polybag watermelon cultivation is 400-500 per cent higher than traditional methods.

WATERMELONS FOR RAMADAN

As rice ripens in some fields and harvest preparations are underway, watermelon fields are also taking shape. Some fields have small watermelon seedlings poking out of polybags in the corners. Some farmers have already transplanted their seedlings into the fields. A recent visit to several areas in Patuakhali between 3 and 9 December revealed this trend of early watermelon cultivation using polybags.

The typical season for watermelon cultivation is from February to April, with February being the best month for sowing seeds. Watermelons usually become ready for consumption in two and a half months to 3 months.

According to the government’s Agricultural Information Service, watermelon seeds are generally sown in January for early harvest.

However, this year, some farmers began sowing in December with the aim of capturing the Ramadan market. Farmers say that traditionally, watermelons hit the market from late March to May. This year, Ramadan starts in early March. If they followed the normal cultivation cycle, it would not be possible to supply watermelons at the beginning of Ramadan. By planting in December, they aim to have watermelons available at the start of the fasting month. As a result, many farmers in Patuakhali have adopted the polybag method to cultivate early watermelons.