Mohsin Uddin, a local farmer, has achieved big success while cultivating a fairly rare variant of jujube (locally known as “kul”) in Phulpur upazila of Mymensingh.
He has cultivated and harvested a new variety of larger jujube, commonly known as Ball Sundari Kul, which has an attractive appearance and is tastier than the other jujubes available in the market.
With its reddish complexion over a light yellow or green skin, Ball Sundari Kul is larger in shape and tastes better than other available varieties.
Developed by Germplasm Centre (GPC) of Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU), researchers registered it as BAU Kul-3 in 2015—a new variety of jujube suitable for the Rabi season.
Later, the fruit came to be known as Ball Sundari Kul or “Barmi” when farmers in different parts of the country slowly began cultivating the fruit commercially.
Mohsin Uddin, of Arjunkhila village under Ruposhi union, is the first farmer to cultivate Ball Sundari Kul in the upazila. In March last year, he planted 540 saplings of Ball Sundari on his three-bigha land.
With proper care, his saplings started growing rapidly, their flowers and fruits appearing within eight months.
Now each plant bears at least 25kg of kul. Mohsin has already started marketing the fruit at Tk2,800-3,000 per maund.
His success has created a lot of interest among local farmers, many of whom have already been drawn to cultivating Ball Sundari Kul on their land.
Mohsin Uddin said he had already earned back his cost of production by selling his kul. “In the coming years, I will be able to earn profits several times more compared to this year.”
Mohsin also hoped that other farmers in the region would similarly benefit from the cultivation of the beautiful and delicious fruit.
Deputy Assistant Agriculture Officer Yunus Ali said agriculture officers had always given necessary advice and support to Mohsin regarding the cultivation of BAU Kul-3. “As a result, he has achieved a bumper yield and consequently a number of other farmers in the region have taken an interest in cultivating Ball Sundari Kul themselves."