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Abdul Jalil of Kakonhat area under Godagari upazila has launched a silent revolution in producing seedless guava for the first time in Bangladesh. This year he has cultivated 4,000 guava plants on 40 bighas of land and already started to sell some produce at Tk 80 per kg. He expressed the hope that from upcoming summer he would be able to pluck and sell the fruit from his orchard in a full swing.
Abdul Jalil, who is a lecturer of Islamic History and Culture of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib College at Natore Sadar also engaged in gardening. He said he visited Australia in 2013 and purchased two seedless guava plants which costs him Tk 40,000 (as valued in Bangladeshi currency) and brought those to Bangladesh. In Australia such guava is called Christan Taiwan. He successfully planted those in Godagari and got quality fruits.
In 2015, he visited Thailand and purchased three more such plants at Tk10,000. In Thailand this fruit is called Jumbo guava. These plants were also successfully cultivated in the upazila. Through cutting method, he regenerated those seedless guava plants and cultivated those on his 40 bighas of land.
He expressed the hope to market those guava from May-June next. He said it is tasty. It is also highly nutritious and sweet. He said he is the person in the country to cultivate seedless guava. He said he applied some 600 sacks of bio-fertiliser and some TSP, MoP and Urea.
He said he is also growing Bari-1 Malta on 11 bighas of land and custard apple (Sharifa) on eight bighas of land. He said he brought the Sharifa plants from Thailand. Moreover, he said he had brought some plants of pomegranate from India for his orchard.
KJM Khondker Awal, Godagari Upazila Agriculture Officer, was rendering necessary advice to Abdul Jalil in cultivating the new varieties of fruits like guava and custard apple. He said, Abdul Jalil was an innovative farmer. The seedless guava he cultivated in his field is a Malaysian breed which is commonly known as Christan Guava. The amount of sugar in this fruit is 3 to 4 per cent more than the local variety. Its taste is very nice. It requires special care to cultivate the fruit and he was assisting Abdul Jalil in cultivating this fruit successfully.