Around five hundred hectares of land have been brought under watermelon cultivation exceeding the DAE fixed farming target of 430 hectares of land in the Khulna agriculture region.

Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) had set a target of 430 hectares of land for watermelon cultivation whereas a total of 496 hectares of land including the 20 hectares of land of the (Gopalganj, Khulna, Bagerhat, Satkhira, and Pirojpur) GKBSP project. 

Talking to BSS, Amarendra Biswas, the project Director of GKBSP, a project of experimental cultivation and exhibition lands at GKBSP, said farmers could not get marginal profit due to drought in summer season, but in the rainy season, they will get more profit.

As a result, farmers are interested in watermelon cultivation than shrimp farming. .

Besides, the government has provided fertilizers, seeds, pesticides and training free of cost and wages of the workers have been provided under the GKBSP project, he added.

Mohan Kumar Ghosh, Additional Director of DAE said, off-season watermelon cultivation is less expensive than seasonal cultivation, and no irrigation is required due to sufficient rainfall.