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Coriander cultivation in Mymensingh char areas profitable
MYMENSINGH, Oct 9, 2004:–The farmers of Char Gabudia village under Sadar upazila of the district have been leading happy life by cultivating coriander, a local spice. The poor farmers started growing coriander in fallow lands around their homesteads. Coriander which is used widely in curry has high demand in the markets of the country.
One Helaluddin of the village collected some coriander plants from Kalta Bazar under Gouripur upazila and planted them on a piece of land near his house about nine years ago. As the plants grew well after proper nursing and sold in the markets, Helal was encouraged to expand the coriander cultivation on more lands. The next year Helal cultivated coriander on five decimals of fallow land adjacent to his house and made a net profit of Tk 5,000. Finding coriander cultivation profitable, some other farmers of the same village showed their interest in its cultivation and sought the help of Helal.
Ebadul Hoque, a young farmer of Char Gobudia purchased coriander seeds from Helal and cultivated on 10 decimals of land which gave him a profit of Tk. 20,000. Ebadul told me that he took coriander leaves to markets and sold them at Tk. 60 to Tk. 80 per kg. Being impressed, Ebadul went on expanding his coriander cultivation every year.
This year he cultivated coriander on 50 decimals of land and earned Tk. 50,000 as profit. Ebadul informed that now the vegetables traders from Dhaka and other places come to his farm to buy coriander leaves. This year he sold corriander leaves between Tk. 30 and Tk. 40 per kg.
Abdul Gafur, a coriander farmer of Nilokhsia village of the same upazila said he grew coriander on seven decimals of land last year and earned over Tk. 18,000 as profit. He spent Tk. 3,500 for cultivation. The leaves can be grown on elevated fallow land in all seasons, but summer is most suitable, Abdul Gafur told this correspondent.
Coriander cultivation does not entail huge cost, but it requires proper nursing, said Abdul Gafur. Excessive rainfall can cause harm to coriander cultivation, he added. He also said that it is more profitable than many other crops. By cultivating coriander a farmer can earn profit several times higher than that of paddy cultivation.
Many farmers of Char Gobudia village including Nuruzzaman, Jaynal, Salam, Hazrat Ali, Billal Hossain, Mukul Mandal and Hurmig Ali came forward to coriander cultivation. Now over 30 acres of land at Char Gobudia and Nilokhsia villages are being used for coriander cultivation and the area of land is increasing every year. About Tk. 1.50 lakh excluding all expenses can be earned by cultivating coriander on an acre of land per year, said coriander cultivators (The Bangladesh Observer, October 10, 2004).