Mustard farming is becoming increasingly popular among farmers in the haor region of Sunamganj, and the area under the crop grows every year. This season it was grown on about 1,500 hectares more than last time, and the crop's market value is Tk 65 crore.

Mustard farming is increasing in the district because it costs little and brings high profits, and good prices this year have put smiles on farmers' faces. Farmer Yakub Ali has changed his fortunes over five years of growing mustard and become financially better off. This season he is happy with a good yield from 7.5 bighas.

Yakub Ali said mustard is more profitable than rice and fetches a much better market price. But if they got government support, farmers in the region could produce even more mustard, he said.

This season about 20,000 farmers in various upazilas of Sunamganj grew mustard on 4,105 hectares, producing 5,400 tonnes with a market value of Tk 65 crore.

Bimal Chandra Shom, deputy director of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in Sunamganj, said: "Farmers are being advised in the field to expand mustard farming. This season about 910 litres of honey has been collected from mustard, with a market value of Tk 4.5 lakh."

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