Mustard production may exceed target this year

As far as eyes go, the charming yellow of mustard flowers blooming on vast tracts of land in Pabna raise hope of a bumper production this year. The phot was taken from Nazirpur village in Sadar upazila on Wednesday. PHOTO: STAR

Blooming mustard covers vast tracts of land in several districts this season as the cultivation area of the popular cash crop exceeded the target due to favourable weather and timely supply of inputs.
Our Tangail Correspondent reports: As much as 38,589 hectares of land in 12 upazilas of the district has been brought under mustard cultivation against the target of 33,761 hectares this season, said sources of the Department Agriculture Extension (DAE).
The production target has been fixed at 40,513 tonnes.
Last year, both the cultivation area and production target in the district were much less than target but the farmers cultivated mustard on more areas of land this time as they had failed to get fair prices of aman paddy.
The cultivated mustard includes Tori-7, BARI-9, BARI-14, and BARI-15 varieties, of them Tori-7 alone covers 80 percent of the cultivated areas, agriculture officials said.
The cultivation of the crop started during mid-November and the harvest will continue till last week of January, they added.
"I have cultivated mustard on 300 decimals of land this year. The yield looks good and the production will be better than last year's if fog does not hamper production," said Abdul Mannan of Poyla village under Tangail Sadar upazila.
Mohammad Azizullah, deputy director of DAE in Tangail, said the mustard cultivation exceeded the target in the district this year and the production is likely to be very good due to favourable weather condition.  
The cultivation, however, was hampered at some places due to disturbance in fertiliser supply amid continuous blockade by the BNP-led 18-party alliance, sources said.
Our Pabna Correspondent reports: According to DAE in Pabna, 29,743 hectares of land has been brought under mustard cultivation in the district this season with production target of 35,692 tonnes.
The weather is favourable for mustard cultivation this year. In last year farmers got 1.1 tonnes of mustard from each hectare but this year they expect 1.25 tonnes of yield per hectare, said AI Shahin, development officer of DAE, Pabna.
"Last year I cultivated mustard on one bigha of land but this season I have cultivated it on 2.5 bighas with prospect of good market price this year," said Md Abdus Salam, a farmer of Hamchiapur village of Pabna Sadar upazila.
Farmers in three upazilas of Narail district have brought 5,980 hectares of land under quality mustard cultivation against the DAE target of 5,664 hectares this season, reports our correspondent.
Ashok Kumar Halder, Narail district training officer of DAE, said favourable weather, proper distribution of high quality seeds, timely supply of fertilisers and other agricultural inputs to the growers and less pest attack in the fields brings hope of bumper production of mustard this year if there is no prolonged foggy weather.
Our Lalmonirhat Correspondent adds: Mustard cultivation in the district is gradually increasing as farmers get good production and fair prices.
A total of 3,100 hectares of land have been brought under mustard cultivation in five upazilas of the district this season with the production target of 3,200 tonnes, Lalmonirhat DAE sources said.

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