High Yielding Variety (HYV) Thai guava is becoming popular in Kotchandpur upazila, where farmers are being solvent by growing the vitamin-enriched summer fruit. Sources at the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in Jhenidah said this season various fruits have been cultivated on over 11,000 hectares of land in Jhenidah. Of which, over 2,250 hectares of land was brought under guava farming against last year’s 1,500 hectares. Islam Uddin, Kamrul Mandal, Iman Ali, of Sree-Rampur village, said the villages are slowly becoming known as ‘guava village’. These farmers have, for generations, cultivated guava, locally called ‘Apple of the poor’ for its low prices. Kotchandpur upazila agriculture officer Sheikh Sazzad Hossain said August-September is the main season for guava production. The weather and soil are appropriate for farming of the fruit in Kotchandpur. He said out of 300 farmers, 125 in Sree-Rampur village under Kotchandpur upazila are currently engaged in guava production.
Guava farmer Abdur Razzak of Boluhor village said he has cultivated guava on 4 bigha’s of land. The expenditure of one bigha of land on account of fencing, land preparing, sapling procurement, sowing, watering, purchase of pesticide and fertiliser, labour and other agri inputs was Tk95,000 to Tk1,00,000. He said if they cultivated paddy in one bigha, they would harvest 20 mound paddy, which will give them a net return of about Tk 3,000 to Tk 5,000.
On the other hand, after all expenses, the guava grown on the same space of land will give them a return of about Tk 50, 000 to Tk 80,000. Ohidul Islam, a farmer who cultivate Thai guava on 10 bighas of land, told the correspondent that people at Elangi, Boluhor, Kushna, Kotchandpur and other 30 villages are directly engaged in production of Thai guava. Eight-nine tonnes of guava are produced per hectare of land in the upazila every year. He said there is no preservation centre in Jhenidah district.  Due to lack of cold storage preservation of the fruit is being seriously hampered. As a result, the growers are forced to sell their produce at throughway prices. Guava farmer Mohidul Islam and Hakim Islam said they prepare the land with fertiliser from Baishakh (mid-April), and after 45 days, they plant the seedlings. Harvesting of fruit begins after three months. Deputy Director of Jhenidah DAE Dr Shah Akramul Haque said about 100 to 110 plants can be planted in one bigha of land and each plant gives fruit worth Tk1,500 to Tk2,000. He said that there are two farming seasons for Thai guavas covering June to August and May to October. Each season, a tree gives 40 kilograms to 50kg of guava.