RAJSHAHI, Apr 29 (BSS): Speakers at a meeting urged the farmers to cultivate mung bean and sesame in the Barind area as these two crops are suitable for farming in the region.
As the groundwater level is depleting fast in the Barind region, these drought-tolerant varieties will contribute to maintaining ecological balance in the region, they added.
They came up with the observation while distributing seed of mung bean and sesame among some of the farmers at Barendra Eco Park, an integrated agricultural farm, in Sapahar upazila of the district recently.
Regional Wheat and Maize Research Station arranged the programme in association with Barind Multipurpose Development Authority (BMDA), which was attended by more than 80 farmers, both male and female.
On the occasion, 20 farmers were given 100 kgs of mung bean and 12 kgs of sesame seeds free of cost with the main thrust of motivating and encouraging them towards the cash crop farming.
BMDA Chairman Dr Akram Hossain Chowddhury and Upazila Agriculture Officer Md Muniruzzaman addressed the programme as the chief and special guests respectively with Managing Director of Barendra Eco Park Sohel Rana in the chair.
Dr Akram Chowdhury said there is a bright prospect of yielding additional 0.5 million tones of mug bean every year in the high Barind tract comprising Rajshahi, Naogaon and Chapainawabganj districts.
He viewed around one lakh bigha of land remains fallow for more than three months after the harvest of rabi crops like wheat, mustard, potato and tomato every year. There has been enormous scope of bringing the huge land under mung bean and sesame farming in order to have best uses of those alongside increasing cropping intensity amid the current water-stress condition.
Referring to various salient features of Mug dal production he said: "No additional cost for fertiliser, pesticide and irrigation is needed to cultivate this short-term cash crop".
Referring to the immense prospect of the crop, he said that if the yield could be enhanced to the expected level through successful expansion of the modern cultivation method among the growers, country's hard-earned foreign currencies would be saved.
He said the country has to import huge mung dal to meet its domestic demand. Since there is a bright prospect of increasing its acreage, he said mung dal could be produced in larger amount with less production cost and the yield will, no doubt, lessen pressure on import.
Muniruzzaman told the farmers that mung bean is a drought tolerant short duration crop which will be suitable for the drought-prone area's environment.
Cultivation of Mug dal has been playing a significant role in crop diversification, he added.
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