Record 13,191 tonnes of groundnut produced in Rangpur region

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RANGPUR, June 4, 2020 (BSS) – The farmers produced an all-time record quantity of 13,191 tonnes of groundnut during the just-ended Rabi season in all eight districts of Rangpur agriculture region.

“The achieved 13,191 tonnes of groundnut production in higher by 1,349 tonnes than the production of the previous Rabi season,” said Additional Director of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) for Rangpur region Agriculturist Muhammad Ali.

The farmers are very happy selling their produced groundnut to wholesalers at rates between Taka 3,200 to 3,400 per mound (every 40 kg) now.

The DAE had a fixed target of producing 11,842 tonnes of groundnut from 5,697 hectares of land for Rangpur agriculture region for the just-ended Rabi season.

“However, the farmers cultivated groundnut on 6,027 hectares of land exceeding the fixed farming target by 729 hectares of land or 5.79 percent,” Ali said.

After completing groundnut harvest recently, the farmers finally produced 13,191 tonnes of groundnut, higher by 1,349 tonnes or 11.40 percent than the fixed production target for the region.

The farmers produced 398 tonnes of groundnut in Rangpur, 3,150 tonnes in Gaibandha, 1,617 tonnes in Lalmonirhat, 7.907 tonnes in Kurigram and 120 tonnes in Nilphamari districts of the region.

Agriculturist Ali said the farmers are achieving bumper groundnut output every year following expanded cultivation of its high yielding varieties evolved by Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute (BARI) on more land, including char areas.

“The farmers got an average yield rate of 2.19 tonnes of groundnut per hectare, higher by 0.12 tonnes than the targeted yield rate of 2.07 tonnes per hectare, following cultivation of the high yielding varieties,” Ali added.

Because of lower farming cost and excellent market price with huge demand, the farmers are reaping huge profits from groundnut cultivation in the region in the last 12 years.

Talking to BSS, Senior Coordinator (Agriculture and Environment) of RDRS Bangladesh Agriculturist Mamunur Rashid said groundnut cultivation has become a highly profitable venture and its farming is expanding both on the mainland and char areas.

A farmer can earn an average profit of Taka 40,000 to Taka 50,000 by producing 26 to 30 mounds of groundnut per acre of land spending Taka 18,000 to Taka 20,000 as farming costs per acre of land.

“Thousands of farmers are cultivating groundnut on the sandy char lands in Rangpur region on the riverine areas and many of them have changed their fortune in the last 12 years,” Mamunur added.

Groundnut farming has become a profitable venture following the boosting food industry sector increasing local demand of the commodity, he added.

Wholesale trader Mokhlesur Rahman at Rangpur City Bazar today told BSS that they are selling groundnut to the retailers at rates between Taka 3,500 and Taka 3,600 per mound after purchasing the same at Taka 3,200 and Taka 3,400 from the farmers.

Wholesale groundnut traders at the market Alok Kumar, Sohel Rana and Amin Hossain said they are also selling groundnut at similar rates to retailers after purchasing the same from the farmers.

Talking to BSS, farmers Bakul Mian, Saiduzzaman, Abul Hashem, Selim Hossain, Akheruzzaman, Abdul Bari and Saiduzzaman of different char villages in Rangpur said they achieved bumper groundnut output this time.

The farmers with smiling faces expressed their happiness over the excellent market price of groundnut.