Baby corn farming gains
Cultivation of baby corn, an item used for producing baby food, is gaining popularity in Sadar upazila of Lalmonirhat district.
An agriculture based non-governmental organisation (NGO) started farming baby corn using compost fertiliser on 215 bighas of land leased from Military Farm at Harati, Ambari, Mahendranagar, Chinipara and Saptibari villages in the upazila three years ago.
The NGO has been farming baby corn with hired local farm labourers and getting bumper output.
Many local farmers have also started growing baby corn instead of tobacco on their lands, and many more are going to start this year. Farmers said, "We are interested in farming baby corn if we get proper marketing facility."
NGO sources said they cultivate baby corn thrice a year, and the production is plentiful. “We spend around Tk 9,000 to cultivate baby corn on one bigha of land in each period, and we earn Tk 19,000 to Tk 20,000,” they said, adding that a farmer can make a profit of Tk 28,000 to Tk 30,000, farming baby corn on one bigha of land and selling his produce to the NGO each year.
Maniruzzman Manir, agriculture supervisor of the NGO, said they send the produced baby corn to Bhaluka in Mymensingh, where it is processed before being exported.
Mafiz Uddin, a local farmer working at the baby corn processing centre at Bhaluka, said the produce is exported to Korea, China, England and other countries.
Azizur Rahman, a local farm labourer at Harati village, said he and many other local farm labourers have been working to produce baby corn. Each of them gets daily wage of Tk 200 to Tk 250. “We never use chemical fertliser on the farmland, we only use compost fertilisers supplied by Lalmonirhat Military Farm,” he added.
Nazrul Islam, a farmer at Saptibari village, said he cultivated baby corn instead of tobacco on two bighas of land this year, and is expecting to earn a good profit by selling the corn to the NGO. “Many farmers will leave tobacco farming and start growing baby corn if they get market facility," he added.
Safayet Hossain, deputy director of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) in Lalmonirhat, said cultivation of baby corn using compost fertiliser is gradually gaining popularity in other areas of the district.
Comments