RAJSHAHI, June 28, 2020 (BSS) – Around 17,349 tonnes of groundnut yield is expected to be produced from 8,815 hectares of land in all eight districts under Rajshahi division during the current season.
Presently, the farmers are very much busy in processing and marketing of the cash crop after successful harvest everywhere in the region including its char (riverbed) areas which are being adjudged as suitable for the high-value crop cultivation in nature.
All the government entities concerned had adopted need-based measures including supplying high-yielding seed and modern technologies among the grassroots farmers to attain the production target.
“We are happy over the satisfactory yield in the current year,” said Shahid Ali, a farmer of Char Mazar Diar village under Paba Upazila, adding per unit harvested yield is more this year compared to the previous years as we were given seeds of high yielding variety.
He mentioned many of his fellow farmers have harvested around nine mounds of yield in per bigha of land this year whereas the previous year’s production was hardly four mounds.
“We got a profit of Taka 15,000 to 20,000 from per bigha of the land this year,” said another farmer Matiur Rahman.
On behalf of its groundnut promotion project, Barind Multipurpose Development Authority (BMDA) had disbursed high yielding seeds among the farmers free of cost, said ATM Rafiqul Islam, Director of Seed Production Project of BMDA.
The government has been implementing programmes to utilise the Char land for groundnut cultivation. “We had supplied 245 kilograms of seeds among the farmers in three char areas in Rajshahi and Naogaon districts to supplement the government efforts,” he added.
Besides, the issue of enhancing nutritional status and economic condition of Charland farmers through development of modern groundnut varieties and intercropping technologies is being prioritized.
The Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) had also provided financial support worth Taka 22.05 lakh to 1,400 farmers in Rajshahi division as part of the government’s agriculture incentive programme to boost the groundnut production.
Sudhendra Nath Roy, Additional Director of DAE, said the region including its riverbed area is famous for groundnut cultivation. Due to higher market price of the crop this year, farmers in different areas including the char areas had brought more lands under the cash crop farming.
He said the farmers had harvested 16,296 tonnes of groundnut from 8,316 hectares of land last year. The yield was also as expected and the market price was also good.
As groundnut contains high protein, fat, carbohydrate, vitamin and minerals, the present government is implementing various subsidised programmes to encourage farmers who live in the rivers catchment areas to cultivate groundnut in char areas.
Agriculturist Sudhen Roy said High Yielding varieties were dispersed among farmers free of cost under the programme.
He said farmers could get good prices as the varieties with large kernels. He said 1000 to 1500 kilograms of nuts are produced per acre of land.
Dr Sakhawat Hossain, Senior Scientific Officer of Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute (BARI), said the prospect of BARI groundnut cultivation is bright in different areas.
He said sandy lands near the river banks and char areas are suitable for groundnut cultivation. They are encouraging farmers to bring more land under cultivation of BARI groundnuts, an oil-enriched seed variety, he added.
Groundnut farming has become a profitable venture following the boosting food industry sector increasing local demand of the commodity, he added.