JOYPURHAT, July 7: A farmer Rustom Ali of remote Boro Majipara Village at Bhadsa Union in Sadar Upazila of the district has set an example of success by farming ginger in bag.
He has co-cropped ginger with papaya. Along with papaya cultivation, he has set 1,000 bags of ginger in the papaya farm.
Rustom Ali said, he has made his bag-based ginger co-cropping at Tk 44,000. Per bag ginger yielding stands at one kilogram (kg) of ginger. And per kg ginger sells at Tk 2,000.
So, he is expecting a total sale of Tk 2 lakh.
His farm has been assisted by Palli Karma Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) while technical assistance was provided by Jacks Foundation, an NGO.
Agriculture Officer of the NGO Shahadat Hossain Shahin said, advices are given so that farmers can be benefitted by co-cropping crops on fallow lands besides homes.
By making bag-based ginger farming, Rustom Ali has set an example, he added.
Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) Rahela Parvin said, it needs no land for cultivating ginger in bags; it can be made at home; such type of ginger farming is free of being damaged by flood and heavy rain, and the farming cost is comparatively less.
According to the DAE sources, ginger in this system can be made in shadowy places. Normally under bamboo bushes, no crop is cultivated; so spaces under bamboo bushes can be used for ginger farming.
As the farming cost is less and pest attack is poor, so higher profit is possible by farming gingers in this system, the DAE Official Rahela Parvin said.
She informed, along with the government, different NGOs are working at the field level to encourage farmers to adopt ginger-co-farming.