Groundnut farmers are spending nights in small sheds built beside their plots to guard their crops against threats of theft in Jhenaidah.
The farmers of villages Chandipur, Ganna, Lakkhipur and Sankarpur said they reap double profit from the short duration crop groundnut, which they cultivate in Bengali months Bhadra and Falgoon, twice every year. Recently the farmers started harvesting the nut from their plots.
They said the crop ensures double profit for them than paddy, wheat, jute or any other traditional crops. The farmers in the area show eagerness to bring their lands under groundnut farming twice a year.
However, some unscrupulous people are stealing the nuts at night, as it is a costly crop. Finding no other alternative, the farmers have made small sheds beside their fields and spending night there guarding the crops.
When this correspondent visited a number of groundnut plots at Chandipur and Lakkhipur villages of Jhenidah Sadar upazila, he witnessed that the farmers have made tiny sheds near their groundnut plots with bamboo stick and polythene to prevent theft.
Upazila Agriculture Officer (Acting) of the Department of Agriculture Extension in Jhenidah sadar Mohammad Rokonujjaman confirmed the matter of guarding groundnut plots in the district. The farmers in Jhenidah Sadar have brought 22 hectares of land under the groundnut farming in the current season. Usually 1.9 tons of groundnut is produced on each hectare, acting he added.
