Several farmers in Kumarkhali Upazila of Kushtia have cultivated capsicum for the first time this year and are expecting a bumper yield.
Sabuj Ali cultivated the orbit variety of capsicum on his farm for the first time and has already sold capsicum worth Tk2 lakh. He expects to get a total sale of Tk7 lakh in three months.
At the beginning of the new journey of capsicum cultivation, Sabuj had to endure a lot of criticism but now other farmers are envious of his success. Earlier, people of the upazila needed to learn more about capsicum cultivation. Now others are emulating Sabuj in learning as much as they can while he works in his field.
Capsicum is used for adding extra flavor to dishes. There are three colors of capsicum available in the market, green, red and yellow. Every 100 grams of capsicum contains 860mg of protein, carbohydrates and vitamin C. Apart from this, it contains vitamins B, E, K, thiamin, folic acid and riboflavin. Green capsicum is slightly more beneficial for young adults. It contains a type of substance called capsaicin, which binds to DNA and prevents the attachment of cancer-causing substances and works to prevent cancer. Apart from this, capsicum relieves the pain of migraine, sinus, infection, toothache, etc.
Sabuj was inspired to cultivate capsicum after watching some videos on YouTube. Later, he contacted the Kumarkhali Upazila Agriculture Office and got to know details about capsicum cultivation. He also joined a three-day training session on safe methods for vegetable cultivation at the agriculture office. There he learnt ways of cultivating without pesticides and using less water. The agriculture office gave him a demonstration to plant capsicum on 20% of his total land. But he decided to cultivate capsicum on 60% of his land.
After tilling his land well, Sabuj began planting saplings in October last year.
“I planted around 6,500 saplings. I planted these seedlings by keeping spaces between each row and used nets to control the temperature of the soil. It does not harm the birds either,” he added.
“I also used mulching to reduce wastage of irrigation water. Due to this, my land is free from weeds and requires less fertilizer and water. The cost of cultivation has also come down,” he continued.
He also said: "I did not use any kind of pesticide while farming capsicum. I used yellow and white glue traps provided by the agriculture office to control the ants.”
“The agriculture office gave me capsicum seedlings, mulching paper, bamboo poles, nets and fertilizers. In addition, I have spent a little over Tk2 lakh to cultivate capsicum on my farm. I started picking capsicum on January 1. The capsicum I produced looks beautiful and is quite large. Out of this I have picked 1000kg capsicum and sold them in Kushtia at Tk180 to Tk250 per kg. Another 2000kg capsicum can be picked from my land in the next three months,” he added.
He said that people in his village do not know much about capsicum and can’t cook with it either. There is no market for capsicum in the local shops, he said.
The only nearby market is in Kushtia city, he added.
However, due to low-priced capsicum from Barisal, local farmers will face a huge challenge this season.
“Cultivating capsicum is very easy. It’s like cultivating chilies. But extra care is needed in case of capsicum saplings and since it can be eaten as salad—it is always preferable to cultivate capsicum without any pesticides,” he further said.
Local farmer Hafizur Rahman said he never heard its name when Sabuj told him about capsicum the first time. “I could not even remember its name. But now I can see it’s very profitable. We hope that there will be more farming of capsicum in this area in the future,” he said.
Abdullah Al Mamun, the local assistant agricultural officer said: “We are trying to encourage the farmers in modern farming to cultivate organically. Mr Sabuj is safely cultivating capsicum. Currently his field is in very good condition and he will be very profitable.”
Kumarkhali Upazila Agriculture Officer Debashish Kumar Das said: “Apart from advising farmers, we have been training them and demonstrating how to cultivate high-value vegetables in safe ways.”