Chandpur farmers lose interest in soya bean farming

CHANDPUR, Apr 29: Farmers are losing interest in growing soya bean in the district as soil is not favourable for its bumper production.

According to the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), soya bean is cultivated in three upazilas of the district.

Some 1,895 hectares of land have been brought into soya bean cultivation in the three upazilas- Chandpur Sadar, Faridganj and Haimchar.

Soya bean is cultivated only on riverbanks and in char areas in the three upazilas.

A few farmers grow and sell it as poultry feeds.

However, farmers have alleged that they incur losses from soya bean cultivation due to lack of crushing facilities of its soya bean seeds.

Meanwhile, soya bean has been harvested from 267 hectares of land with a production of 369.3 tonnes.

But, farmers

are still reluctant to grow the oil-producing crop in five other upazilas of the district due to the same reasons.

In Chandpur Sadar, 230 hectares of land have been brought into soya bean cultivation with a

production of 299 tonnes.

In Faridganj, 85

hectares of land have been brought into soya bean cultivation. Some 50 farmers are provided with incentive. In Haimchar, soya bean has been cultivated on 1,580 hectares of land.

Farmers hope they will get a good harvest as there are no natural calamities and pest attack. Talking to the FE, farmers said they eye a good yield of soya bean in May.

Farmers said soya bean seeds were sown in January last. Now soya bean is being harvested in many places. Soya bean will be harvested by May.

Agriculture

expert Mobarak Hossain has told the FE that the

soil of the five upazilas is not suitable for soya bean cultivation.

On the other hand, there are no crushing facilities of soya bean seeds in Chandpur.

However, local

farmers have called upon the government authorities to ensure the crushing facilities so that they can extensively cultivate soya bean amid the high prices of its oil in market.

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