Fruit orchards increase, croplands decrease in Rajshahi

RAJSHAHI, Sept 25: The number of fruit orchards in the district is increasing day by day as the farmers have become more interested in the cultivation of different fruits due to more profit than crop cultivation. As a result, the croplands have been reduced during the last couple of years.
Nowadays hybrid crops and fruits are being produced in larger scale since the output is more than the indigenous varieties on the same land. But it is actually reducing the total croplands since the traditional mode of cultivation cannot yield much output.
According to the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in Rajshahi, the farmers here have become more interested in the cultivation of different fruits including mango, guava, litchi and plums in the last couple of years. Among the upazilas, more cultivation of the fruits has been recorded at Bagha, Charghat and Godagari upazilas of the district, the DAE source said.
The source further informed, the total arable land in 2010 was 2 lakh 2 thousand and 803 hectares, and in 2014 it reduced into 1 lakh 80 thousand and 911 ha. Of the lands, mango orchards covered 14,005 ha which is seven per cent of the total cultivated lands.
In 2012-'13, the mango orchards comprised of 14,005 ha, in 2013-'14 16,519 ha and in 2014-'15 16,583 ha.
Besides, the guava orchards comprised of 884 ha in 2012-'13, 1,239 ha in 2013-'14 and 16,583 ha in 2014-'15. Alongside, the plum and banana cultivations have also increased.
On the other hand, the farmers have reduced crop cultivation as the water level has fallen drastically and the irrigation cost has increased.
Meanwhile, the country has suffered deficit of 73,902 tonnes of crop in the last three years, the sources added.