‘Farmers get better price of jute this year in Rangpur’

Farmers in all five districts of Rangpur agricultural region have already completed harvesting jute producing over 0.51 million (5.17-lakh) bales of the fibre crop during the current season, reports UNB.
Officials said the farmers are selling their newly-harvested fibre crop at better rates this year. The Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) officials said farmers completed harvesting jute earlier this month and got an excellent yield rate of 11.46 bales per hectare on an average this season.
The farmers had cultivated jute on 49,792 hectares of land this season. But, recent floods damaged standing jute crop on 4,616 hectares of land causing production loss of 50,630 bales of the fibre crop worth Tk 240.2 million (Tk 24.02 crore) in the region.
Despite damages caused by flood, farmers completed harvest of the remaining fibre crop on 45,176 hectares of land in Rangpur, Kurigram, Gaibandha, Lalmonirhat and Nilphamari districts and got better output this season.
Rangpur District Marketing Officer Agriculturist ASM Hassan Sarwar said farmers are selling newly-harvested jute at better rates between Tk 1,650 and Tk 1,900 per mound (40-kg) depending on varieties and quality of the fibre. Farmers Abu Bakar, Selim Mian and Rushed Hossain at Badarganj Jute Market in Rangpur said they sold their newly-harvested jute at Tk 1,700-1,850 per mound.