Sesame plots in Jhenaidah have been drying up due to prolonged severe drought. The farmers of the district were hopeless and helpless to the nature as the plants were bending down on the grounds. It might affect the farming during the season apprehended the farmers and the officials of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) in Jhenaidah.
A farmer of Damukdia area in Shailkupa Upazila, Ahmed Ali, said he sowed the seeds of sesame in mid-March this year hoping to harvest the oil seeds by June next. But the tender leafs of the plants could not grow smoothly when as drought hit the area for last two months. Many tender plants also dried on the plots as there was no rainfall for last few weeks. If there is no rain within a few days, the entire plot will be dried up, the farmer said.
Farmer Rahmat Ali of Kalicharanpur in Jhenaidah Sadar Upazila had expressed the same and said he was also the victim of drought when his plot was also drying up day by day due the longtime drought.
Office of the deputy director of the DAE in Jhenaidah sources said they had set target to produce 5,168 tones of sesame on a total of 3,400 hectares of land in the season in Jhenaidah Sadar, Kaliganj, Kotchandpur, Moheshpur, Shailkupa and Harinakundu Upazilas. The expected yield was estimated for 1.52 tones on each hectare on an average.
The cultivating area surpluses as the farmers brought additional 35 hectares of land hoping a better yield of the oil seeds. But the tender plants have been drying up day by day when there was not rainfall in recent months.
