Bangladesh: Fortune smiles on Kendua cucumber growers

NETRAKONA: Cucumber growers in the district's Kendua upazila are content over their good yield of the vegetable and its fair prices in the local markets. According to the Upazila Agriculture Office, 13 unions of Kendua upazila including around 300 acres of Jaliyar haor land have been brought under cucumber cultivation this year in Netrakona. Rafiqul Islam, a farmer of the upazila, said, "Cucumber cultivation has given me bumper yield this season. The price is also better than previous years. "However, due to the lack of suitable roads, the cost of transporting from the haor ares is high," he alleged. According to another grower Rahim Uddin, nowadays farmers are more interested in cucumber farming since it is more profitable with less investment. "Cucumbers are now being sold at Tk 25/30 per kilogramme," he said. Cucumber farming usually starts at the end of January and continues till February. Farmers can harvest their produce after one and a half months. Since it does not take ...