Sandy char lands offer eye soothing greenery

Bumper yield of peanut has brought smile to farmers in different char areas of the Jamuna and Dhaleswari rivers in Tangail.

The sandy chars of the rivers have turned green this year with the promise of peanuts. In the village after village, land that sometimes hosted tobacco but was often unfarmed, is proving ideal for peanut production. 

Peanut, also known as groundnut, is vitamin-rich, a good source of protein, and helpful in reducing the risk of both heart disease and gallstones, experts say.

This year peanut was cultivated on 2272 hectares of land in Bhuapur, Gopalpur and Nagarpur upazilas with a target to produce 3044 tonnes of peanut, said Shariful Islam, sub-assistant agriculture officer of Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in Tangail. 

Azmat Ali, a farmer of Gabsara Char in Bhuapur, said he has cultivated BARI-8 hybrid varieties of peanut on his five bighas of land this season.

He is expecting at least eight to ten maunds of peanuts from per bigha of land, said Azmat.

“Current prices of per maund of raw (kacha) peanuts are Tk 1400 to Tk 1600 while the dry (shukna) peanuts are Tk 1800 to Tk 2200 at local markets,” he said.

“I hope I can earn a profit of Tk 12,000 to Tk 15000 from per bigha of land after excluding the production costs,” said Azmat.

Grower Hossain Miah of the same village said local farmers are now showing interest to cultivate peanut as cultivation costs of peanut are less than other crops like paddy or tobacco.

Apart from this, it earns good profit, he said.

There is no need of extra irrigation as well as nursing in the cultivation, said Hossain.

Tangail DAE Deputy Director Abdur Razzak said the sandy soil of the char (landmass emerging from riverbed) areas is favourable for peanut cultivation.

Local farmers are getting interested in peanut cultivation due to its lower production cost, he said.

To help peanut growers, they have been teaching them modern farming techniques, including how to apply balanced fertilizers like urea, potash and gypsum, and when to spray insecticides, said the DAE official. 

“The yield is looking better than last year. We hope more than 1000 farmers of three upazilas in the district will get good profit this time as market prices of peanut are good,” he added.