Magura's wide fields have put on a yellow cloak. Across the district, mustard flowers sway in the winter-morning breeze as if someone had rolled out a yellow carpet. In the fields of Abalpur, Deruya, Pakakanchanpur, Satyapur Raghabdar and Patkelbari villages in the district's Sadar upazila, mustard is in full flower everywhere, and in some fields the pods have already formed.

The district agriculture department says it expects a bumper mustard yield because the weather has been favourable. Flowers now brighten fields across the district, and in others the flowers have begun to set pods. This season mustard has been sown on 22,893 hectares in the district: 10,408 hectares in Sadar, 1,405 in Sreepur, 7,360 in Shalikha and 3,720 in Mohammadpur. This year's target is 25,090 hectares.

Jamil Mia, a mustard farmer from Narsinghati village in Magura Sadar, said: "This time I have sown mustard on 2 bighas. The cost is low and it takes little labour. The weather has been favourable, so the mustard has come on very well. Pods are starting to appear in my field now. I think I will be able to bring the crop home within two months."

Shafiqul, a farmer from Chhaychar village, said: "This time I have grown mustard on 1 bigha. I get a good result from this crop every time. Compared with last year the weather has been favourable, so I hope my field will give a good yield."

Nazim Uddin of Baliadanga village in Chauliya union said: "I have sown mustard on 3 bighas this time. Yellow flowers brighten field after field. In a short while the flowers will start turning to pods, and then the mustard will begin to ripen within one and a half to two months."

Agriculturist Md Tajul Islam, deputy director of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in Magura, said: "Because the weather and conditions have been favourable this year, there will be a bumper mustard yield. Severe cold, fog and cold waves will not do much harm to the mustard. Seed and fertiliser have been distributed free of charge to encourage farmers to grow it."

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