Jhalakathi has had a bumper mung bean crop this season. With technology and help from the agriculture department, cultivation exceeded the target by about 400 hectares, the department said. After meeting local demand, the district's mung beans are going to other parts of the country. Farmers are getting good prices and their interest in the crop is growing day by day, bringing smiles to their faces.

Marginal farmers say yields are good because they received seed and training from the agriculture department on time. Most of those working in the fields are women, who work alongside men from morning to evening. With good output and higher profits, new agri-entrepreneurs are taking an interest in mung bean.

The target was 2,605 hectares across the district's four upazilas: 625 hectares in Jhalakathi Sadar, 655 in Nalchity, 660 in Rajapur and 665 in Kathalia. But mung bean was grown on about 3,000 hectares. The agriculture department expects production of about 3,500 tonnes worth Tk 45 crore. Farmers are growing mung bean on land left fallow in the rabi season, mostly the BARI Mung-6 and BARI Mung-14 varieties. Once the crop is ready, farmers can pick it in three rounds.

Local farmers said yields were good this year and they received seed, fertiliser and training from the agriculture department on time. Several mung bean growers said: "Mung bean has been profitable this year. It gives a good yield without irrigation or fertiliser."

Halima Begum, wife of mung bean grower A Jabbar, said most of the processing work falls to women: picking from the field, threshing, winnowing and drying are all done by women.

Liton Hossain, a farmer of Ponabalia union in Jhalakathi Sadar, said: "Yields are good this year. I grew mung bean on one acre, and after all costs I will have a profit of about Tk 50,000."

Rustam Ali, a farmer of Kulkathi union in Nalchity, said: "Thanks to good weather and the agriculture department's help, yields are good this year. There will be a profit after costs."

Md Rifat Sikder, acting deputy director of the Jhalakathi Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), said the department had trained farmers in modern mung bean varieties, given regular advice and taught them to use technology, which is why cultivation has increased. Favourable weather and proper care on the department's advice have brought good yields. New agri-entrepreneurs are emerging and jobs are being created, which will contribute to the rural economy, he said.

"Mung bean is a tasty and nutritious pulse crop with many uses. It is mainly eaten as dal, and it is also fried and marketed. It is a profitable crop that does not need much irrigation and needs little fertiliser. Growing mung bean also increases soil fertility," he said.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.