KENDRAPARA: Even as a steep rise in price of vegetables is affecting consumers, farmers of Kendrapara are upbeat over the high price of pointed gourd.
The cost of pointed gourd (potala) has shot up to Rs 75 per kg in markets in the state. The vegetable is being sold for Rs 80 to Rs 85 per kg in some places. The price could rise further in a few days as there is huge demand for pointed gourd during the holy month of Kartik, said Arakhita Samal, a vegetable farmer of Patkura.
Ranjan Jena of Karanja said his village is known as the bowl of potala and the vegetable is cultivated on over 500 acres of land in the area. “Farmers of our village have been harvesting around 500 quintals of potala everyday for the last two months and sending it to Kendrapara, Jajpur, Cuttack and Bhubaneswar,” he said.
Shyam Behera of Garadapur said he returned from Mumbai three years back after he broke his hand. He started pointed gourd cultivation on two acre of land in his village and makes Rs 3 lakh per year. Sources said farmers spend around Rs 70,000 to Rs 80,000 to raise potala over an acre of land in a year and earn around Rs 2 lakh.
Pointed gourd plants are climbers and require support for proper growth. The yield of the potala from one hectare is around 20 to 25 tonnes. Around 10,000 plants can be raised on a hectare of land, said chief district agriculture officer, Kalyan Ray.