RANGPUR, April 6, 2018 (BSS) – The farmers produced 41,305 tonnes of mustard oil-seed after completing harvest of the crop recently in all five districts under Rangpur agriculture region.
Officials of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) said a target of producing 52,683 tonnes of mustard was fixed from 40,525 hectares of land in all five districts under Rangpur agriculture region during the just-ended Rabi season.
However, the farmers cultivated mustard on 31,873 hectares of land, 8,652 hectares or 21.35 percent less than the fixed cultivation target (40,525 hectares of land) of the crop during the last Rabi season in the region.
The farmers finally cultivated mustard on 6,105 hectares of land in Rangpur, 6,990 hectares in Gaibandha, 12,853 hectares in Kurigram, 1,795 hectares in Lalmonirhat and 4,130 hectares of land in Nilphamari districts under the region.
Talking to BSS today, Horticulture Specialist of the DAE at its regional office here Khondker Md Mesbahul Islam said the farmers could not achieve the fixed mustard farming target this time due to various reasons.
“Many farmers could not sow mustard seeds timely due to excessive moisture in their land following late rainfalls in October last year and cultivated potato, maize and other crops during the just-ended Rabi season,” he said.
“However, the farmers got an excellent average yield rate of 1.30 tonnes of the crop per hectare following cultivation of its high yielding varieties evolved by Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute (BARI) on most of their lands this time,” Islam added.