EnvironmentBadsha Mia, 65, of Pirganj in Rangpur owns no land, but over two decades he has planted more than 30,000 fruit, timber and medicinal trees along roads, at mosques and schools and on fallow land, and tends them at his own cost.
CropsErosion by the Teesta at Hatibandha, Lalmonirhat, and Gangachara, Rangpur, has swallowed 27 families' homes in a week and at least 50 acres of farmland with standing aman; farmers have cut 17.5 bighas of unripe rice to feed their cattle before the land goes.
VegetablesPotatoes are selling at Tk 12 a kg at cold-storage gates in Rangpur; growing and storing a 55 kg sack costs about Tk 825, but it fetches Tk 660.
CropsIntense heat and a lack of rain have left Aman fields short of water across 15 unions and the municipality of Pirganj, Rangpur, with soil cracking in places; farmers are paying for extra irrigation just as the panicles emerge.
VegetablesOld ginger and garlic stocks are running low and the new crop has not fully arrived, pushing up retail prices in Rangpur; tomatoes, okra and cabbage eased, while fish, meat and eggs held steady.
CropsIndian bay leaf trees on homesteads, field ridges and fallow land have become an extra income source in Bajemoskur village of Kaunia, Rangpur; the upazila grows it on 65 hectares and leaves sell for Tk 108 to 112 a kg.
CropsGangachara in Rangpur holds 836.20 tonnes of urea, TSP, DAP and MoP, but farmers say dealers turn them away; fields prepared for early potato, groundnut and maize stand unplanted.
VegetablesAlong village roads in 15 unions of Pirganj, Rangpur, farmers are earning extra from beans, pumpkin, bottle gourd and papaya as well as sesame, ginger and turmeric, on condition that roads and drains are not damaged.
Okra blossom in Sirajganj, dew on a creeper in Rangamati, a farmer taking his cattle to plough in Rangpur and Malabar spinach for sale in Cumilla: Bangladesh's fields and roads on 17 October through Prothom Alo's photographers.
VegetablesFarmers in Pirganj, Rangpur, are preparing land and planting murikata onions for the winter market; some fear a fertiliser shortage later, but the upazila agriculture officer says there is none.
FruitsFive districts of Rangpur division produced 134,916 tonnes of bananas on 4,077 hectares in 2024-25, but with no cold stores, processing plants or good transport, growers sell cheaply to middlemen.
CropsTo close a ginger shortfall of about 120,000 tonnes a year, the government wants self-sufficiency within three years through better varieties, quality seed and ginger grown in sacks around homesteads.
CropsNeighbours thought it was a vermicompost works. A raid in Pirganj, Rangpur, found chemicals, brick dust, sawdust and empty branded packets used, officials believe, to make counterfeit fertiliser, pesticides and cattle feed.
VegetablesExtension and marketing department data show Rangpur potato growers made losses in seven of the twelve years from 2014 to 2025; the region grows a quarter of the crop but can cold-store only 22 percent of it.
GallerySagar banana planting has doubled in a few years in Rangpur's Sadar, Mithapukur, Pirgachha and Pirganj upazilas; a photo story from Shyampur, Badarganj, follows the bunches from tree to truck.
LivestockA bull calf rearing unit and mini-lab finished in 2023 collected semen once, then lost its bulls for want of a feed budget and staff, leaving about 3,500 local farms without its service.
CropsAman covers 22,800 hectares on 180 Teesta chars in Rangpur, Lalmonirhat, Kurigram, Gaibandha and Nilphamari, with a good crop; farmers fear a rise in the river will drown low-lying paddy before it is cut.
CropsEarly aman covers 33,000 hectares in five Rangpur-region districts; yields are unchanged but fertiliser, diesel, pesticide and labour costs are up, and farmers are preparing land for early winter vegetables.
HealthA mobile court in Rangpur's Pirgachha seized 50 to 60 cartons of fake soybean oil, empty bottles and fake labels, and fined the trader Tk 20,000 as well.
Twenty-nine of the 130 patients at Pirganj upazila health complex in Rangpur have dengue, while only 9 of 23 doctor posts are filled and caesarean services have stopped.
No consignment of Chandpur or Padma hilsa has reached Rangpur's City Bazar in a year, traders say, yet Chattogram and Cox's Bazar fish are sold under those names, lit to look fresh.
At a World Rivers Day discussion and human chain at Begum Rokeya University, teachers, students and river activists demanded that all of Bangladesh's transboundary rivers be identified and recognised.
Eleven people in Pirgachha, Rangpur, developed anthrax symptoms after a sick cow was slaughtered and its meat shared and sold; IEDCR tests confirmed three cases, and the livestock office has vaccinated all cattle in the area.
The Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre says the Teesta may reach warning level at places in four northern districts within 24 to 72 hours, while the Brahmaputra is steady and the Jamuna and Ganges-Padma are falling.
Under Bangladesh Bank's revolving scheme, farmers and agribusinesses in Rajshahi and Rangpur divisions can borrow at no more than 7 percent for four stages of the supply chain, from production and storage to export.
Rangpur, Dinajpur, Kurigram, Lalmonirhat, Nilphamari, Gaibandha, Thakurgaon and Panchagarh have radish, cauliflower, cabbage, beans, bottle gourd, tomato and red amaranth in the ground; heavy rain destroyed some plots that have since been replanted, and a Mithapukur grower has sold cabbage at Tk 2,0
Favourable weather and ample rain have carried Aman transplanting almost to completion across northern Bangladesh; the Department of Agricultural Extension's Rangpur office targets 663,714 hectares in the division's eight districts, with the rest to be planted within 10-15 days, while farmers who sa
EnvironmentOn 18 July 2026 the Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre warned that heavy rain upstream in Assam could push the Teesta, Dharla and Dudhkumar over danger level within two days, while the Kushiyara was already above it at two points.
The Bangladesh Meteorological Department's lowest reading is 2.6 degrees Celsius at Tetulia in Panchagarh in January 2018; meteorologists explain why the north freezes first, how pollution thickens the fog, and why the evidence points to shorter winters rather than colder ones.
In a remote Rangpur village, a group of educated young people has built a modern net-house nursery to supply farmers with healthy vegetable seedlings.
In the heart of Rangpur, Aleya Khatun has built a two-tier rooftop farm of flowers and fruit and urges the city's residents to green their empty roofs.
