Mung bean farmers are dreaming of success by cultivating Mung bean with little capital in the hope of low cost and high profit in short time. In the last one decade, high yielding varieties of seeds have come in the market and due to the advice and various initiatives of the Department of Agriculture, farmers are gradually shifting to Mung bean cultivation instead of Khesari. High yielding seeds yield more, thus production cost is low and the demand is also huge. Therefore, in Mirzaganj of Patuakhali, Mung bean has been cultivated on more land than the target. Seeing the bumper yield of Mung bean in the field, the farmer's face lit up. Farmers are busy collecting Mung bean in the upazila. However, the farmers are worried about the fair price due to the syndicate of middlemen.
According to the Upazila Agriculture Department, the target for Mung bean cultivation in the upazila this season was four thousand hectares. But farmers in six unions of the upazila have cultivated Mung bean on a total of 5,000 hectares of land. Last season, cultivation was done on 3,600 hectares of land. Officials expect to produce more pulses this year than the precious one. Which can be supplied elsewhere by meeting the demand of the upazila.
It was further informed that due to the interest of farmers in modern agricultural technology and timely cultivation at low cost, bumper yield of mug has been achieved this time. The cost of cultivation, seeds, fertilizers and pesticides and maintenance per bigha of land is 7-8 thousand Tks. It contains about 20 mounds of pulses. It can be sold at 2200-3000 Tk per mound.
Various areas of the upazila including Charkhali, Golkhali, Kismat Chailabunia, Majidbaria, Kakrabunia, Gazipura, Kathaltali have been visited and bumper yield of mung bean has been seen all over the field. Women, men and children are collecting pulses from the field in the morning and evening. Many farm owners are again raising pulses in a 6 to 7 share agreement with the workers.
The local workers are also benefiting from this. The Upazila Agriculture Officer is going door-to-door to the farmers all the time. As a result, farmers have been seen happily collecting pulses and working in the fields.
Nurul Islam Hawlader, a farmer from West Subidkhali village of the upazila, said, “I have cultivated Mung bean on one acre of land. Mung bean cultivation has less cost and labor than other crops. The price is also good. If you sell it a little late, you can get 2500 to 3200 Tk per mound.
Farmer Md Saheb Ali Hawlader said that the seeds, fertilizers and pesticides provided by the government are less than required. If the allocation was increased, the farmers would cultivate more land.
Upazila Agriculture Officer Md Arafat Hossain said Mung bean is a profitable crop. In the dry season, the lands of this region used to be fallow. Farmers have been encouraged to cultivate these pulses on the land at the initiative of the agriculture department. Responding to our call, the farmers have cultivated mung bean in more land than the target. Moreover, urea fertilizer is not required for subsequent Aman cultivation in lands. Mung bean cultivation creates a lot of organic manure in the land. As a result, the yield of aman is very good.