The farmers in Jhenaidah district have reduced the amount of land used for sesame and mungbean (moog) farming in the current season as they believe that growing these two crops would be less profitable for them. Instead of these two crops the farmers have been leaning towards Boro and jute cultivation, said the farmers.
The farmers mentioned three reasons for reducing the sesame and mungbean farming area. They said as the price of Boro and jute was increasing every year, they have been leaning towards these two crops instead. Further, a good number of the farmers could not cultivate sesame when there was no rainfall during the seedling period. Some of them kept the land fallow for the same reason, they said.
A number of farmers at Kanuria and Kaluhati in Kaliganj upazila when contacted said that they have reduced the land area of sesame and mungbean farming in the current season as compared to earlier years fearing less profit this time.
Farmers Kamalesh Sharma of the village said he brought his 40 decimals of land under the sesame faring in the season as against last season’s 50 decimals. Farmer Taleb Hossain of village Kaluhati in Jhenaidah Sadar upazila said he reduced the moog farming area to 50 decimals as against last season’s 70 decimals.
According to a source related to the office of the deputy director of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in Jhenaidah, mungbean farming area in Jhenaidah Sadar, Kaliganj, Kotchandpur, Moheshpur, Shailkupa and Harinakundu was reduced to 3,820 hectares as against the target for 4,700 hectares in the current season.
The farmers of six upazilas brought 3,135 hectares of land under the sesame farming in the season as against government target for 3,710 hectares, the sources said.
Deputy Director of DAE in Jhenaidah Asgar Ali when contacted said the farmers of the district always consider their interest. As they were not reaping better profits from sesame and mungbean for the last couple of years, they have been leaning towards more profitable Boro and jute cultivation as the price of these two crops was increasing every year.
