Sugarcane turns sour for Joypurhat farmers
Friday, 28 November 2008
Our Correspondent
JOYPURHAT, Nov 27: Sugarcane cultivation has been drastically reduced in Joypurhat in recent time.
Farmers said sugarcane is no more a profitable crop. This crop takes more time than other ones to grow and give an yield. Prices of other crops have been raised but sugarcane price has not been increased.
Nuruzzaman Mondal of Mondal Para village said, "We are not interested in cultivating sugarcane because we get profit in growing other crops which required less labour, less production cost and have less duration."
Most of the farmers under the purview of Joypurhat Sugar Mill expressed the same idea to the FE correspondent. They demanded price of sugarcane should be raised at least up to Tk 100 per maund. They also demanded sale confirmation of their produce and timely payment.
In this 2007-08 season, sugarcane has been cultivated in 13 thousand 6 hundred 66 acres of land and the mill will begin crushing sugarcane from 28 November.
This year, production target is 9,500 tonnes of sugar by crushing 125 thousand tonnes of sugarcane and the mill will continue crushing sugarcane for 90 to 100 days, which is less than the previous season, according to mill sources.
Md Mofakkarul Islam, managing director of the mill, said farmers refused to cultivate this crop. There interest in the crop is being reduced day by day. If the government did not take necessary steps to save the sugarcane farmers, they may stop sugarcane cultivation altogether and the industry would face a serious problem.
JOYPURHAT, Nov 27: Sugarcane cultivation has been drastically reduced in Joypurhat in recent time.
Farmers said sugarcane is no more a profitable crop. This crop takes more time than other ones to grow and give an yield. Prices of other crops have been raised but sugarcane price has not been increased.
Nuruzzaman Mondal of Mondal Para village said, "We are not interested in cultivating sugarcane because we get profit in growing other crops which required less labour, less production cost and have less duration."
Most of the farmers under the purview of Joypurhat Sugar Mill expressed the same idea to the FE correspondent. They demanded price of sugarcane should be raised at least up to Tk 100 per maund. They also demanded sale confirmation of their produce and timely payment.
In this 2007-08 season, sugarcane has been cultivated in 13 thousand 6 hundred 66 acres of land and the mill will begin crushing sugarcane from 28 November.
This year, production target is 9,500 tonnes of sugar by crushing 125 thousand tonnes of sugarcane and the mill will continue crushing sugarcane for 90 to 100 days, which is less than the previous season, according to mill sources.
Md Mofakkarul Islam, managing director of the mill, said farmers refused to cultivate this crop. There interest in the crop is being reduced day by day. If the government did not take necessary steps to save the sugarcane farmers, they may stop sugarcane cultivation altogether and the industry would face a serious problem.