Farmer Salim Uddin (54) of Dargah Para in Jhelongja Union of Cox’s Bazar Sadar Upazila. For the first time, he successfully cultivated the ‘Black Baby’ variety of watermelon. In the current season till August 24, he has sold watermelons worth Tk 1 lakh 12 thousand. There are still 20,000 to 30,000 taka worth of watermelons to eat. He spent about 55 thousand rupees to cultivate these watermelons. This watermelon can be cultivated two to three times at any time of the year except winter. In the first week of last May, farmer Salim Uddin sowed watermelon seeds of ‘Black Baby’ variety for the first time in his 33 century land with fear and apprehension. With the help of the Integrated Agriculture Unit Palli-Karma Sahih Foundation (PKSF) and the advice of the officials of the Integrated Development Foundation (IDF) of the Agriculture Development Department, he got a good yield of watermelons after two months. Farmer Salim Uddin was seen selling watermelons while eating watermelons at Dargah Para on 24th August. He was selling watermelons at Tk 50-60 per kg. Each watermelon weighs 2 to 3 kg. These watermelons are sold at 80-90 taka per kg in the fruit shops of Bazarghata, Laldighir Par, Thana Road area of Cox’s Bazar city. Watermelon farmer Salim Uddin said that earlier he used to cultivate vegetables. His interest increased when he saw the foreign variety ‘Black Baby’ watermelons being sold at high prices in the market. He has benefited by cultivating this watermelon for the first time with the help of private organization IDSF.
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