Spice lifts incomes for farmers
Spice cultivation has enhanced the incomes of farmers in Nilphamari thanks to their higher yield and elevated prices, helping growers overcome losses they incurred in the previous years by producing traditional crops such as paddy, wheat and jute.
The popular varieties of spices preferred by farmers and suitable for the soil in the northern district are ginger, turmeric, onion, garlic, peeper, coriander seed, and cassia-leaf.
According to the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in Nilphamari, there is a target to cultivate 12,200 tonnes of ginger, 5,500 tonnes of turmeric, 7,500 tonnes of onion, 14,000 tonnes of garlic, 2,000 tonnes of peeper, and 5,000 tonnes of other spices this year.
The area under spice cultivation was 4,200 hectares in 2016 and it rose to 6,620 hectares this year as farmers turned to spices thanks to their bright economic prospect.
Khatizar Rahman, a 64-year-old farmer in Uttara Shoshi village in sadar upazila, had cultivated aman and boro paddy for years but rarely made any profit.
He has been cultivating ginger for two consecutive years now and has bagged handsome profit.
This year, he has grown ginger on 11 bighas of land and is expecting to get 15 tonnes of yield. The crop may give him an income of Tk 6.5 lakh at the current market price of the spice against the production cost of Tk 2 lakh.
"Seeing my success, farmers in many adjoining areas has started cultivating it," said Rahman.
This is because spice cultivation brings higher incomes.
For example, an aman and a boro crop will together bring a profit of Tk 30,000-35,000 per bigha, whereas ginger can fetch Tk 60,000-65,000 from the same area of land, according to Anwarul Islam, sub-assistant agriculture officer in Kishorganj upazila.
Another popular spice that is being cultivated is turmeric, an essential ingredient used in cooking, as it needs less labour and cost but brings lucrative profit.
For better colour and flavour, local turmeric is high in demand. So, companies set up makeshift centres during harvesting to procure the spice directly from farmers.
Onion and garlic price rises almost every year, making many farmers rich overnight, said growers.
Bhanu Chandra Roy, a 50-year-old farmer in Dhobadanga village in sadar upazila, now cultivates onion and garlic.
He hopes to receive 400 maunds of onion from 10 bighas of land and 100 maunds of garlic from three bighas as he cultivated them in the middle of November. He will harvest the crops in March and April.
He plans to build a brick-built house after selling them.
"Favourable soil and weather and good price are making farmers enthusiastic about spice cultivation," said Md Rafiqul Islam, agriculture extension officer in the sadar upazila.
The government has initiated a project to encourage farmers to grow pulses and spices, according to Abu Bakkar Siddique, deputy director of the DAE in Nilphamari.
Comments