On sloping hill land at Baittapara in Longadu upazila, Rangamati, farmer Tasleem has planted rows of sugarcane. He hopes the three-bigha field will earn him about Tk 20 lakh in a single season. The cane is now ready for sale.
He says he planted about 20,000 cane setts in July this year and tended the field with his own money and labour, with no help from the government or any private body. By his count, the field can yield 70,000 to 80,000 canes for sale.
Cane is rarely grown on any scale in the area, so people from nearby villages come every day to see the field, and some want to buy. Several local farmers have said they would like to grow cane commercially. They say training, easy loans, inputs and help with marketing could open up sugarcane as a new crop for the hills.
Tasleem fears a heavy loss if he cannot sell on time. With a machine to press the cane, he says, he could also sell juice in the local market and earn more.
Wasif Rahman, the Longadu upazila agriculture officer, says about 50 hectares in the upazila are now under sugarcane. The upazila agriculture office has no separate allocation for cane, but the hill district council has arrangements to support cane growers.
Photo: Plague / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Source: Krishi Shomoy
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