Famous Modhupur pineapple will see harvest in July but the delicious juicy fruit is unlikely to attain its usual size as the plantations did not get sufficient water in time and the farmers did not use chemicals that make the fruit larger.Photo: STAR

The size of famous Madhupur pineapple is likely to be smaller this season as the plantations did not get sufficient water due to lack of rain while the local growers have decided to minimise use of chemicals that makes the fruit larger.
As a gesture of good will, farmers at a technology handover programme at Holdia village in Madhupur upazila recently also vowed to stop using harmful chemicals to ripen the fruit.
Well-known for tasty 'honey queen' variety of pineapple, Madhupur Garh region produces over one lakh tonnes of the delicious fruit a year and it is sent to different parts of the country including the capital.
Pineapple was cultivated on 7,000 hectares of land in Madhupur and 1,000 hectares in Ghatail upazila of Tangail district this year, said sources at the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE).
The pineapple growers in the hilly areas of the two upazilas got bumper yield last season as weather was favourable, local DAE office sources said.
"Pineapple growers will harvest the fruit in July and they are expecting good yield this season also. Local agriculture officials are visiting the fields to give necessary support and advice to the farmers," Madhupur Upazila Agriculture Officer Mohammad Abu Hanif said.
But size of the fruit will be smaller this season as there was not required rain during the months of Falgun and Chaitra, said Abdul Aziz, a pineapple grower of Shaliabaha village in Ghatail upazila, who has got this year's Channel i Agriculture Award.
Pineapple growers at a technology handover programme at Holdia village in Madhupur upazila on April 18 vowed to stop using harmful and banned chemicals to ripen the fruit and minimise use of chemicals to make the fruit larger.
They also held a demonstration protesting use of harmful chemicals to ripen immature fruits by a section of greedy wholesalers and middlemen (brokers).
As a result of the bad practice, consumers of the fruit are attacked with different diseases while Madhupur pineapple is losing its original taste, making it less popular to consumers, the growers said.
Among others, scientific officers of Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute (BARI) Dr Mofazzal Hossain, Dr Mosleuddin Miah and Dr MA Siddique, Ausnara union parishad Chairman Nasir Uddin and general secretary of Idilpur Pineapple Growers Cooperative Association Ali Akber Fakir addressed the programme chaired by Abdur Rahim Talukder.
With saplings brought from Meghalaya in India, local Garo leader Jevier Chishim (still alive) first cultivated pineapple at Idilpur village in Madhupur upazila in 1942 and since then pineapple cultivation has become gradually popular in the area.