CHANDPUR, Oct 10: Farmers in Chandpur district are increasingly inclining to cultivate sugarcane finding it to be more profitable than a few other crops.
Local sources said a high crop yield was seen across the district this season that brought cheers to the cultivators.
There are 5,000 sugarcane growers in the district, as per statistics of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), Chandpur.
Faridganj, Matlab Uttar and Sadar upazilas have occupied the top position in producing sugarcane for a long time in the district.
Year after year, sugarcane cultivation is gaining popularity among the farmers and the cultivation area of the seasonal juicy fruit is also increasing in the district as the crop is bringing a good return, said District Agriculture Officer Mobarak Hossain.
This year, the total target to cultivate sugarcane was set at 660 hectares in the district and so far over 653 hectares have been planted with sugarcane, with only seven hectares left.
Till date sugarcane has been harvested from 337 hectares and harvesting is still going on in Sadar, Faridganj,Matlab Uttar and all other upazilas too.
According to the official source, per hectare yield of sugarcane on an average is around 61 tonnes, which is relatively higher than those of the previous years.
The total yield of sugarcane in the district is estimated at 19852.6 tonnes, which is satisfactory according to the growers and the agriculture experts.
Some growers said sugarcane cultivation is not difficult or expensive. Rather it is profitable and yield comes within one year. No pest attack occurs in sugarcane fields too.
But this year's incessant rainfall and prolonged waterlogging have damaged sugarcane fields on 128 hectares of land in the district.
Farmers Nazmul Huque Patwary (40) of Modonergaon village in Faridganj upazila and Nazir Mollik (25) of Bohoria area in Chandpur Sadar told the FE that they both grew sugarcane and they would harvest the crop when the plants would get mature. (It takes about one year for the sugarcane plants to get mature).
They will sell sugarcane in the local haats and bazars and busy corners in Chandpur district town in exchange for a little profit.
Every day they earn a good profit amounting to Tk700 to Tk 800 by selling sugarcane.
Vendors sell each stick of sugarcane at Tk40 to Tk 50 and per piece of medium sized sugarcane for Tk 30 in the local markets. They said they are getting fair price of sugarcane.
Last year, sugarcane was cultivated on 635 hectares of land in the district, which was less than this year.
This year due to widespread motivation by upazila agriculture experts, sugarcane was cultivated on more land- 660 hectares- and the yield was also more than that of last year.
According to the Department of Agriculture Extension, Chandpur, there are about 5,000 sugarcane growers in the district.
maayerbadhon@gmail.com