Malabar spinach fruit a winner for Jhenidah farmer

Jhenidah farmer Amir Hossain, 50, from Badpukuria village in Sadar upazila, can't help himself: he's creative. To achieve self-reliance growing any ordinary crop might be good but would hardly satisfy the man. Rather, he favours novelty. It's a preference that has led him to become one of the very few farmers in Jhenidah to pursue Malabar spinach fruit, locally known as 'mechuri,' on a commercial basis. It's a crop, he's discovered, with a good deal of promise.

“I first grew Malabar spinach on ten decimals in 2015,” he recalls. “My father-in-law gave me the idea and I took some seeds from him. That year I spent Tk 10,000 to grow the crop and earned a profit of Tk 30,000.” The following year, Hossain expanded his crop to cover 40 decimals, spending Tk 25,000 to earn a profit of Tk 1.1 lakh.

This year he grew Malabar spinach on 90 decimals and has so far earned Tk 2 lakhs profit with hopes for the same amount again, if the weather stays favourable.“I sow the seeds in April,” he explains, “and harvest starts towards the end of July. Malabar spinach requires fertiliser, insecticide and a trellis structure of bamboo and wires.”

Malabar spinach, known in Bengali as 'pui shak,' is a perennial vine that as a leaf vegetable and also in the form of 'mechuri', its fruit, is low in calories but high in protein, vitamins A and C, iron and calcium. In Bengali cuisine it is often prepared with red pumpkin or cooked with hilsa fish bones or shrimp.Hossain's ingenuity has attracted interest.

“A good many farmers have visited my plot to know more about this crop,” says Hossain. “They are keen to grow this vegetable in the coming season.” “Amir Hossain is a skilled farmer,” observes vegetable trader Shamsul Mia of Jhenidah district town. “His produce is consistently good quality and he's making a decent income from Malabar spinach.”

The deputy director of Jhenidad's agriculture extension department, Dr Khan Mohammad Moniruzzaman, has also visited Hossain's farm. “I was really happy to see him growing Malabar spinach on such a large scale. It's the biggest spinach plot in the district” he remarks. “From this crop variety he has achieved self-reliance and some renown among farmers.”