Thousands of farmers cashing in on bean cultivation in Pabna

PABNA, Oct 16: Thousands of farmers in different upazilas of Pabna district are now engaged in bean cultivation as it proved profitable and farming of it has changed the lives of many cultivators in the area.

Over 30/40 trucks loaded with beans leave 'Atghoira and Muladuli bean zone', the biggest bean-producing areas, for the capital city and other parts of the country everyday as beans worth around Tk 80 thousand to 1 crore is traded daily at the local market, traders said.

Farmers from Pabna district take their products to Atghoria and Muladuli markets and sell it to the wholesalers who supply it to different places including Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet and Narayanganj.

Farmers from all the villages of Muladuli union under Ishwardi upazila; Khidirpur, Per Khidirpur and Ramchandrapur unions under Atghoria upazila and Zednail, Haripur and adjoining villages of Chatmohar upazila under Pabna district bring their beans to the market for sale, said Abdur Razzak, secretary of Muladuli Vegetable Traders Association.

"The local market sees trading of 1,500 to 2,000 maunds of bean everyday. The amount is on rise as there has been a bumper production of the vegetable this year," said Md Sohel, a wholesaler of the market. "Each maund (37.32 kg) of bean now sells between Tk 1,600 and Tk 1,800.

Md. Mostafizur Rahman, Deputy Director of Agricultural Extension Department said at least 3,500 hectares of land have been brought under bean cultivation in the district this year while it was around 2,800 hectares last year.

"I have cultivated beans on three bighas of land this year while it was only one bigha a few years ago. After obtaining my master's degree, I joined a school. At the same time I started bean cultivation as it is very profitable," said Md Mukter Hossain.

"Bean farming on a bigha of land costs Tk 13,000 to 15,000. If there is no natural calamity, a farmer can get 75 to 100 maunds of bean from the land in a season. One can easily earn a profit of Tk 20,000 to 25,000 from per bigha," said Md Abdul Latif Jowarder, a small bean farmer. A few bean farmers, however, said they often fail to get fair price of the product.

Local farmers and traders urged that the government build a cold storage in the area so that they can preserve their agricultural products.

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