Pumpkin is very popular as a vegetable in the country. It is also known that there is considerable demand in various food hotels. In Bandarban district, sweet pumpkin is grown as an additional crop along with paddy in Jhum cultivation on the hill slopes, but lately only sweet pumpkin is being grown in abundance in Jhum place and sweet pumpkin produced by Jhum farmers is being taken to different parts of the country.
Most recently, on the ground, it was seen that men and women workers from different neighboring villages along the Bandarban to Lama road, Tongkavati Union, Sualok Union, Chimbuk-Nilgiri road are bringing sweet pumpkins from the slopes of the high mountains to the side of the road, someone is measuring the weight, measuring with machines, and someone loading a truck with a huge work. Krappung Mro (60) has grown sweet pumpkins in just 2 acres of Jhum land, selling 130 maunds at 600 rupees per maund and hoping to get another 100 maunds. He said that excluding all the expenses, there will be a profit of one lakh taka. He also said that all 40 families in his neighborhood have cultivated sweet pumpkin, cucumber, bitter gourd, barbati vegetables. Krap Pung Mro also said that the area of jhum is decreasing, now many people are doing permanent fruit gardens, and if one plants rice in Jhum, elephants and monkeys come to the land and destroy crops including rice.
Ring Rao Mro (22), a resident of Brickfield neighborhood, has grown sweet pumpkins in three acres of land. This year, he has sold 250 maunds of sweet pumpkins at six hundred Tk per maund. He hopes to get another 150 maunds. On the Lama-Sualak road, the men and women laborers are bringing sweet pumpkins to the roadside with baskets due to the heat at noon. Female laborer Tumpa rao mro (25) said that for each sweet pumpkin brought to the road from Jhum, they get one hundred taka, carrying one at a time throughout the day. It can be done, it can be brought eight to nine times throughout the day, that is, the income is 800-900 taka per day.
In Tongkabati Union and Sualok Union, along the Lama Sualok road, the banks of the shark canal are filled with sacks, only piles of sweet pumpkins on the roadside.
Aung hla mro (55) said that there is no neighborhood including Sakkoy para, Boli para, Aubghla para Romju para, where sweet pumpkin is not being cultivated, everyone is cultivating more or less and getting profit. He has grown sweet pumpkins on six acres of land. Sold at 600 Tk per maund. When asked how many maunds he will get this year, he said that this year is not so good, but this year he has sold 340 maunds so far and expects to get two and a half maunds more. Aung hla mro said that two to two and a half lakh taka will be gained this year excluding all expenses.
Repio Mro (26), a businessman from Brickfield area, buys six hundred taka and gets a commission of twenty taka per head and said that he has been involved in this business for 7 years.
Businessman Jhulan Das (40) said there is a huge demand for sweet pumpkins from Bandarban all over the country, because sweet pumpkins from Bandarban are incomparable in taste. He said that he alone takes two truckloads of sweet pumpkin daily from Bandarban. Doing business for 9 years. Comilla Nimsa bought 640 taka apiece and sold it at 750 taka excluding all expenses. He said that every time there is a profit of one hundred Tk. Driver Abdullah Al Mamun Bandarban to Comilla Nimsa Bazar takes Tk 20 thousand per truck. He said that the capacity of each truck for sweet pumpkin is 150 maunds.
Driver Md. Sajib said that he takes 3-4 trucks of sweet pumpkins from Bandarban to Chittagong Riaz Uddin Bazar in a week for 7000 Tk per truck.
Bandarban Sualak toll tax collector Md Shahed said that every day 8-10 trucks full of sweet pumpkins go out of Bandarban. He said that each truck takes 1200 toll-tax at Sualok Gate as determined by the government.
According to the information obtained from the office of the Directorate of Agricultural Extension, Bandarban district, in the financial year 2019-20, sweet pumpkin was planted in 229 hectares, the production was 3781 metric tons, in the fiscal year 2020-2021, it was planted in 242 hectares, the production was 4154 metric tons, in the financial year 2021-2022, it was cultivated 248 hectares, production 4512 metric tons.
Bandarban Sadar Upazila Agriculture Officer Omar Farooq said Bandarban's sweet pumpkin is very tasty and has nationwide demand, from Bandarban it is supplied to various parts of the country including Chittagong, Cox's Bazar, Cumilla, Dhaka. Bandarban's sweet pumpkin can be stored for a long time and does not spoil, it is also famous as a disaster vegetable, said the agriculture officer.