Groundnut harvest going on in Bogura, Manikganj

BOGURA, June 25: Groundnut cultivators in the char areas of the district are happy over the bumper yield this season.

Sources said farmers started harvesting their crops a few days ago.

A good number of growers said groundnut cultivation is popular among the people living in different char villages and riverside areas of the district.

Some of them have achieved financial solvency farming of the crop.

According to the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) office sources, groundnut is a popular food item. It has good demand in the market.

Newly-harvested groundnut has started appearing in the local market and growers are happy over present market price of their produce.

The item is selling at Tk 1,800 to Tk 1,900 per maund in the retail markets and Tk 1,700 to Tk 1,750 in the wholesale markets.

Harun-Or-Rashid of Sonatola upazila said, "The farmers are making profit over Tk 30,000 to Tk 45,000 from a bigha of land."

The farmer said sandy char land is suitable for the crop.

Another farmer Lokman Hossain of Dhunot upazila said he has cultivated groundnut on 20 decimals of land during this Rabi season spending Tk 2,600 as the DAE has provided all necessary support in this connection.

DAE officials said growers should expand the production of groundnut for more profit.

BSS report from Manikganj adds: Harvesting of groundnut in the vast char areas of Daulatpur, Shibalaya and Harirampur Upazilas of the district are going on full swing during the current season.

The Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) officials here said the groundnut is generally cultivated on the sandy soil and it needs no irrigation.

Experimentally, some local farmers started cultivating groundnut on their barren land which would remain fallow all over the year in the char areas of the Jamuna and the Padma rivers.

The char farmers are getting fair prices of the crop between Tk 2,000 and Tk 2,400 per maund depending on quality.

According to DAE sources a total of 2,412 hectares of land has been brought under groundnut cultivation, exceeding its target of 2003 hectares. Local sources said more than four thousand hectares of land came under groundnut cultivation this season.

Abdul Latif, Chairman of Bachamara Union Parishad said about two thousand bighas of groundnut of his union was inundated a few days ago as the water of Jamuna rose suddenly.

Ahmad Ali, one groundnut cultivator of char Kalikapur of Baghutia union of Daulatpur upazila, said he has cultivated groundnut on two bighas of land this season and is getting expected production and prices.

Mizanur Rahman Tota, Union Parishad member of Baghutia, said groundnut cultivation is gaining popularity in the char areas as it grows in the sandy barren land and it needs no irrigation.

Now groundnut became one of the cash crops for the char people, he said, adding groundnut is cultivated twice in the year in the winter and summer seasons.