Farmers eye good garlic production
Farmers in the northern district are expecting a bumper production of garlic in the current season.
Moreover, encouraged by a good yield and fair price in the last season, garlic growers in 13 upazilas of the district are cultivating the item on vast areas of land this year.
Farmers in the district have cultivated garlic on 4,518 hectares of land against the target of 3,110 hectares of land this season with the production target of 30,496 tonnes, said Golam Mustafa, deputy director of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) in Dinajpur.
Growers said easy process of cultivation, lower production cost compared to other crops and a fair price last season is the reason behind exceeding the garlic cultivation by 1,408 hectares this season.
Although the item is usually cultivated in all the 13 upazilas of the district, the farmlands in Khansama and Chirirbandar upazilas are more suitable for garlic farming.
Farmers in Khansama upazila have cultivated garlic on 3,280 hectares of land against the DAE's target of 1,550 hectares this year, DAE officials said.
Farmers in the upazila got about 6.66 tonnes of garlic per hectare last year, against a production target of 7.3 tonnes.
“We are expecting a bumper yield and fair price of our produces this year as the item was sold at satisfactory price last year,” said Anisur Rahman, a farmer of Ramnagar village in Khansama upazila.
“I have cultivated garlic on 50 decimals of land this season which cost Tk 90,000. I have already harvested 1600 kg of the item worth around Tk 1.85 lakh,” said Mostakim of Kachinia village in the upazila.
Meanwhile, growers in the upazila urged the government not to import garlic till May this year for ensuring fair price of the item at local markets.
“If the item is imported before May, farmers in the region would be deprived of fair price,” said Hussain Ali of Ramnagar village.
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