Farmers of Bogura district now-a-days are gaining interest on Filipino Black Sugarcane cultivation. Being a region which did not have a great reputation of sugarcane cultivation, this foreign variant of sugarcane has seen a bumper yield in the area. After seeing the success, farmers of Bogura are rethinking their approach on sugarcane cultivation.
Correspondent after investigation found out that an agriculture entrepreneur named Ahsanul Kabir Dalim has recently cultivated Filipino Black Sugarcane at 11 decimal of land. After test cultivation, he achieved a huge success due to the high rate of yield. He brought 16 saplings from Philippines from two years ago. After successfully planting 7 saplings, more than 2000 sugarcane now flourish his land.
Farmer Dalim said that Filipino Black Sugarcane has a different appearance from the local variants. This sugarcane gets up to 7-8 feet high and becomes ripe in 10-11 months. Due to having high amount of juice inside the sugarcane body, this variant can boost the sugar production with low cost.
He also said that farmers across the district are swarming at his sugarcane field to see the progress of the cultivation. Many nursery owners and agro officials are also showing interest to collect the saplings of this special variant. Farmers in the area are already planning to cultivate this variant of sugarcane to boost the production.
Farmer Dalim after leaving the job of an instructor at an NGO, gained interest in alternation agriculture. After his successful trial, many in the area are hoping to see a bright future with sugarcane cultivation.
Agriculture officers in Bogura said that a total of tk 3-4 lakh can be earned by cultivating this variant in 1 bigha of land. Farmer Abdur Rouf of Nurail village said that he was somewhat disappointed with the sugarcane yield as Bogura district does not provide a proper weather for sugarcane cultivation. After seeing the huge yield of Filipino Black Sugarcane, he hopes that farmers will get a good profit margin of this variant becomes commercialized.
Farmer Dalim said that the variant can be profitable as 8,000 pieces can be cultivated at 1 bigha of land. If each piece can be sold at 50-80 tk, the profit margin will be huge, he hopes.
Bogura Sadar Upazila Agriculture Officer Md Enamul Haque said that Filipino Black Sugercane is being cultivated in the region for the first time. If this variant becomes commercialized, the scene of Sugarcane and sugar production sector can change in a positive way. Thus agriculture officials regularly visit the sugarcane field and give advice to farmers concerned with the project.
