Growing vegetables on floating beds made of water hyacinth and beside the land of
shrimp gher(field) has turned out to be a boon for farmer Nurul Islam Morol at Paikgacha
upazila here.
Nurul Islam also a shrimp field owner, resident at South Shrikanthapur village under
Raruli Union in the upazila are now earning Tk 14 lakh in a year by cultivating different
kinds of vegetables, including beans, gourds, brinjals, pumpkins, beet, bitter gourd,
tomatoes and pepper on the specially made beds that float on the marshland.
The floating beds on 7 bighas land around 375 foot- long with around a three-foot thick
ness and a four-foot width. Nurul Islam said that he is making profits by selling the
vegetables grown on the floating beds. On the other hand, he is also earning money by
selling shrimp and other fishes.
“I earned Tk 5 lakh by selling from shrimp and other fish varieties, Tk 1.18 lakh from
paddy, Tk 8 thousand from bitter gourd, Tk 15 thousand from balsam-apple, Tk 40
thousand from gourd, Tk 8 thousand from sweet pumpkins, Tk 3 thousands from brinjals
and Tk 6.84 lakh from others vegetables and by leasing lands to the farmers in a year,
said farmer Nurul Islam.
“To make “dhap”, which is used to grow crops on marshland, Tk 1 lakh is paid for
water hyacinth, Tk 20 thousand is paid for fertilizers and around Tk 2.80 lakh is paid for
labourers and others, he said.
“My financial condition was worsen five years ago as crops were not grown at my
7 bighas land due to heavy rainfall, over salinity, fertilisers crisis and load shedding
problem,” he added.
Agriculturist Bibhash Chandra Saha said that more farmers are being trained under a
government project arranged by Department of Agriculture Extension Office in Khulna
and huge marshland in the upazila will be cultivated in this way.recently, he said. –BSS, Khulna
Around 50 farmers of the upazila have showed keen interest to cultivate winter
vegetables at their marshland in this year while they visiting Nurul Islam’s marshland recently, he said. –BSS, Khulna
