A record area of mustard has been sown in Madaripur district this rabi season. Because the seasonal crop pays well, farmers in the district's Shibchar upazila have turned their attention to it. Farmers hit by Cyclone Bulbul a few days earlier also grew mustard in the hope of a bigger harvest from a small outlay.
According to the district agriculture office, the target this year was 14,595 hectares of mustard, and the crop has been sown on 13,280 hectares. Alongside local varieties, farmers are growing BARI Sarisha-4, 9, 14 and 15, BINA-4 and 11, Tori-7 and SM-75, and are seeing a profit.
Fields of yellow
A tour of the district showed mustard of various varieties in the fields. It has been grown in Shibchar's Banshkandi, Bhandarikandi, Baheratala, Umedpur, Bhadrasan, Pachchar, Bandarkhola, Kutubpur, Kadirpur and Dwitiyakhanda unions, and in Char Koyaria, Bashgari and Sahebrampur in Kalkini upazila. The mustard fields have added to the beauty of the countryside, with yellow in every direction. Farmers hope for a bumper crop if the weather stays favourable.
Shibchar farmer Rotan Madbor said: "To make up for the damage from Cyclone Bulbul a few days ago, I have grown an early variety of mustard on 4 bighas. For the last few years rice has not paid much, and so we have been counting losses every year. That is why I have become interested in mustard as an alternative, alongside other crops."
Azam Sikder, a farmer from Baheratala village in the same upazila, said: "This season, besides supplying fertiliser, seed and pesticide, I have grown mustard on about two bighas. The crop has done well and has flowered. Now I expect a good harvest. After lifting the mustard I will plant boro rice on that land."
GMA Gafur, deputy director of the district Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), said mustard had been sown on a record area of land in the district this season. If the weather stays favourable, farmers can earn extra profit from it. The yield this year has been estimated at 5.5 to 6 maunds per bigha.
Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.
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