Collage Photo- BSS

RANGPUR, May 3, 2025 (BSS) - In the just-concluded 2024-2025 Rabi season, farmers in all five districts under the Rangpur agricultural region produced 39,862 tonnes of sweet potatoes.

After getting a bumper production, farmers are happy with the price of sweet potatoes in the local markets at Taka 1,300 to Taka 1,400 per maund (40 kg), depending on the variety and quality.
 
Officials of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) said a target of producing 44,617 tonnes of sweet potato from 1,895 hectares of land was fixed for Rangpur, Gaibandha, Kurigram, Lalmonirhat and Nilphamari districts in the region. 

However, farmers cultivated the crop on 1,653 hectares of land, less by 242 hectares of land against the fixed farming target, due to the cultivation of winter vegetables, maize and potato on more land area. 

After completing the harvest, farmers produced 39,862 tonnes of sweet potato this time, higher by 174 tonnes against the production of 39,688 tonnes of the crop achieved during the previous 2023-2024 Rabi season in the region.

Additional Director of the DAE for Rangpur region Agriculturist Md Shafikul Islam told BSS that char and riverside people and farmers have expanded the cultivation of highly profitable sweet potato in sandy-barren char lands and mainland in recent years. 

"The sandy-loamy and sandy lands are suitable for sweet potato farming which requires no fertilisers and irrigation water," he said.
 
Talking to BSS, landless farmers Nur Islam, Anwar Hossain and Majibar Rahman of village Char Mohipur in Gangachara upazila of Rangpur said they cultivated sweet potatoes in sandy char lands and got bumper production with profitable prices this season. 

Similarly, farmers Abdul Haque, Yasin Ali and Mozaffar Hossain of village Char Biswanath in Kawnia upazila of Rangpur said that they also achieved a bumper sweet potato yield and better price of the crop this year.

Agriculturist Dr M A Mazid, who got the Independence Award 2018 in food security category, said that an adult can meet the daily requirement of 13 grams of vitamin A by eating one sweet potato.

"Sweet potatoes contain vitamins A and C and minerals, which are absent in rice. It is rich in protein, carbohydrates, calcium, iron, carotene and vitamins B1 and B2, which are essential for the human body," he said.
 
He also said that people in the Philippines and Papua New Guinea, and some African and Latin American countries eat sweet potatoes as a substitute for rice, while in the United States and Japan; it is widely used as a main carbohydrate source.
 
People living in the riverine char areas of the Rangpur agricultural region are cultivating sweet potatoes on sandy and sandy-loam lands, char lands, and riverbeds and, like many other countries, are widely consuming sweet potatoes as an alternative food.

"If we can get the general public into the habit of eating sweet potatoes, we can reduce the pressure on rice to a great extent," Dr Mazid said, adding that more steps should be taken to make the public aware of this issue.