Strawberry growing can be hugely beneficial for Bangladeshi farmers, and as a result, commercial farming of the fruit has been gaining popularity in the Rajshahi region for the last couple of years. The fruits are supplied to different markets across the country and used for ice-cream, jam and other processed products.
“Strawberry cultivation is as easy as growing potato or eggplant. Saplings can be planted in rows during the period between November and December every year,” said Prof AKM Rafiul Islam of the Department of Botany of Rajshahi University.
He added that the plants start flowering within one month of plantation and fruits can be collected till March.
“Each plant bears around 250 to 300 grammes of fruit and some 6,000 plants can be grown on one bigha of land,” Dr Islam said, adding that with farmer-level price of around Tk 600 per kg, the fruit will have a bigger market locally and globally and benefit farmers enormously.
Now, a large number of people, mostly unemployed youths, have become dependent on strawberry farming to earn a living, as its cultivation is easier and more profitable than other crops, he said.
Prof Manzur Hossain, a strawberry researcher on strawberry varieties, innovation and expansion in the country, said:
“We have innovated three varieties of strawberries through applying a tissue culture method,” he said.
“In the demonstration field, all those were found adaptive to the region's soil and environmental conditions,” said Prof Hossain, another teacher of Botany.
ATM Rafiqul Islam, deputy manager (agriculture) of Barind Multipurpose Development Authority, said there are bright prospects for farming strawberry everywhere in the country except the coastal districts. The fruit produced by him is now being supplied to markets in the capital.
The country can earn a huge amount of foreign currencies from strawberry export if its commercial farming starts at national level, he hoped.
(1 Bangladeshi Taka equals 0.012 USD)
Source: thedailystar.net
