VegetablesOf Dinajpur's 27,350-hectare vegetable target this season, 7,250 hectares are early varieties; chasing better prices, farmers began planting cauliflower, cabbage, brinjal and tomato on high land from mid-September.
VegetablesWith new winter vegetables reaching Hili market in Hakimpur, Dinajpur, pointed gourd fell from Tk 40 to Tk 20 a kg in two days, bitter gourd from Tk 80 to Tk 40 and green chilli from Tk 100 to Tk 50; beans, cauliflower and cabbage are cheaper too.
VegetablesAbout 4,000 year-round moringa trees planted along roadsides in Birampur, Dinajpur, in January have begun to bear, and drumsticks are selling at Tk 200 to 260 a kilo.
CropsIn Dinajpur Sadar, branches and bamboo stakes in Aman fields give magpie robins, drongos and mynas a perch to hunt insects; about 65 percent of farmers use the cost-free method, extension officers say.
CropsA mobile court in Birganj, Dinajpur, seized 198 sacks of illegally stockpiled TSP fertiliser and sealed the warehouse; the fertiliser has been handed to the upazila agriculture officer for distribution to farmers.
HealthThe 500-bed hospital holds 1,300 to 1,400 inpatients a day while 88 of its 218 doctor posts are vacant, and with the MRI and CT scanner broken, patients pay for tests at private centres.
VegetablesIn Khansama, Dinajpur, farmer Moyej Uddin grew the hybrid Early-45 summer bean on 22 decimals with help from an extension project and expects to sell Tk 75,000 to 80,000 worth; the DAE has supplied the seed in all 13 upazilas of the district.
VegetablesThursday's downpour left water standing on low fields in Birganj, Dinajpur, threatening early potatoes, cauliflower, brinjal and other winter vegetables; the agriculture office says losses will be limited if the water drains quickly.
VegetablesDinajpur Sadar has 250 hectares under hyacinth bean this year, with a 2,500-tonne target; farmers who picked before winter got Tk 200 a kilogram at first and Tk 70 to 80 now.
VegetablesAtiar Rahman of Murshidpur brought seed from Kahalu in Bogura, spent about Tk 70,000 on 3 bighas and has already sold Tk 2.5 lakh of chilli; neighbours are following him out of rice.
FruitsYoung grower Tawhidul Islam Tawhid planted 85 vines of about 15 varieties on 10 decimals of land in Noleya village and is now harvesting; he plans a vineyard of nearly four bighas.
FruitsAtiar Rahman of Balarampur village grew heat- and rain-tolerant 'Bengal Tiger' watermelons on a trellis over 40 decimals under an agriculture office demonstration; Tk 50,000 spent, Tk 125,000 sold in the first round.
FruitsOn about two acres on the Birganj-Khansama border in Dinajpur, Aminul Islam has planted Sagar bananas with Ratna cauliflower in between; he says advice and fertiliser have been slow to come, and the agriculture office says it will send an officer.
VegetablesOnions that sold for Tk 35 a kg at Hili a week ago now cost Tk 40-45; traders blame rain keeping farmers from bringing onions to market, and consumer-rights officials say they are checking prices.
Dinajpur's aman crop covers 273,750 hectares against a target of 272,270; the district aims for about 8 lakh tonnes of rice, with early varieties to be harvested from mid-Kartik.
Hoping to recover last season's losses, Fulbari farmers in Dinajpur are planting early varieties such as Starik and Romana; leases, seed and fertiliser have pushed up costs.
FruitsZakir Hossain, back from Kuwait, harvests Ajwa, Barhi, Medjool and Helali dates from about 100 palms on 1 acre 57 decimals in Parbatipur, Dinajpur, and sold about 3,000 seedlings last season.
With no rain for several days in Hili, Dinajpur, farmers are irrigating transplanted Aman paddy with shallow pumps, and the fuel price rise has added two to three thousand taka a bigha to their costs.
Early cauliflower has been planted on 170 hectares in Birganj, Dinajpur, against 92 hectares at the same time last year, as farmers aim to reach the market early for better prices.
In Fulbari, Dinajpur, early Aman yields 18-22 maunds a bigha, but at Tk 750-900 a maund farmers are not recovering their costs; paddy has fallen Tk 200-300 a maund in ten days.
A Water Development Board contract at Parbatipur in Dinajpur set aside Tk 2,38,83,000 to bring about 59,708 cubic metres of earth from outside the project area to rebuild an irrigation canal bank. Instead, cropland on both banks is being dug 10 to 12 feet deep; the board confirmed the irregularity o
Rakibul Haque, 28, of Bochaganj in Dinajpur has planted a Vietnamese black rice variety on 33 decimals of leased land, the first time the crop has been grown in the upazila.
Fulbari upazila in Dinajpur has set a target of 150 hectares of early winter vegetables, with output put at about 3,375 tonnes.
Farmers in Dinajpur's Phulbari upazila are weeding, spraying and irrigating early cauliflower, cabbage, tomato, bean and radish to reach the market ahead of the season; the upazila agriculture office targets 3,375 tonnes from 150 hectares, and one grower expects Tk 3 lakh profit on a Tk 1.2 lakh out
The district's 34,540 livestock farms, 3,072 poultry farms and 42,124 fish farmers feel the squeeze; poultry farmer Mominul Islam is feeding 60 sacks a month instead of 70 and his broilers are not reaching weight, while dealer Arjun Prasad blames maize prices and the gas and power shortage.
A PhD study by Md Shafiqul Islam in the genetics and plant breeding department of Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University, Dinajpur, has selected hybrids that hold bottle-gourd yields under high temperatures; supervisor Professor Dr Md Hasanuzzaman says they will underpin future vari
The administration in Dinajpur's Khansama upazila seized about 1,600 sacks of illegally stocked chemical fertiliser, fined two dealers a total of Tk 90,000 and ordered a case against a third trader.
