NAOGAON, May 07: Farmers of Mohadevpur upazila under the district are expecting an abundant yield of sesame this year.
Growers of the area are inclined to cultivate this crop because of its low production cost and increasing demand and high price of the edible oil.
The Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) sources said this year sesame has been cultivated in a total of 30.5 hectares of land in the upazila while the last year's target was 15.2 hectares.
One Alim Uddin of Rodil village informed farming of sesame on one bigha of land costs only Tk. 4,000.
One can get three to four maunds of sesame from a bigha of land and each maund of the produce is sold at the market at up to Tk 2,000, he added.
Farmer Sadequl Islam of Safapur village said farmers can cultivate boro, sesame and aman on the same land consecutively in a year.
"At the outset of rainy season we harvest sesame and the aman plants are transplanted in the late autumn. It is more profitable for us," he added.
Deputy assistant agriculture officer of Abdul Matin said peasants are showing interest in cultivating the crop on more areas of land after getting its plenteous production and good prices in the recent years.
It requires lower production cost in terms of irrigation, fertiliser and labour compared to other crops, and less fertile lands where other crops do not usually grow well can be used for sesame farming, he added.
Upazila agriculture officer Jahangir Alam Pramanik said people are becoming aware of the health benefits of sesame and the demand of the oil seed is increasing in the market.
If the weather condition remains friendly till the harvest, the sesame cultivation may be increased by three or four times next year, he added.
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