RAJSHAHI, Dec 30: The cultivation of Rabi crops is increasing day by day at the vast barind tract in the district as the cultivation does not require much irrigation compared to paddy cultivation.
The farmers here have to irrigate water much in the vast barind tract; mostly at Godagari and Tanore upazilas of the district for paddy cultivation whereas the cultivation of Rabi crops needs less irrigation of water. Hence, they incur losses every year in paddy cultivation, sources said.
To save cost of irrigation, they are becoming more interested in the cultivation of Rabi crops like wheat, onion, garlic, potato, lentil, vetch and some other crops in their fields, farmers said.
Agricultural specialists said that due to climate change, now the level of groundwater has gone down. Earlier, the depth of tube-well was 35 feet, but at it required to go 120 to 140 feet deep to get water level in the area.
As a result, the farmers have to bear extra cost in paddy cultivation but they can save irrigation cost in cultivation of Rabi crops, they added.
According to Godagari upazila agriculture office, the farmers here have cultivated around 1,950 hectares of land this year but they cultivated over 2,000 hectares of land in the previous year.
The cultivation of paddy is decreasing gradually in the area as the irrigation cost has gone up caused by declination of groundwater level.
On the other hand, the cultivation of Robi crops, namely wheat, onion, garlic, potato, lentil, vetch and some others crops are on the rise here.
Farmers here cultivated lentil around 2,850 hectares of land and wheat on around 810 hectares of land in the Barind tract.
Comparing with the previous year, the cultivation of Rabi crops are gradually increasing here due to low production cost and fair market prices of produces, the sources added.
Talking with The Daily Observer, Bodar Ali, farmer of Kapatia village of the upazila, said, he is able to fetch fair profit cultivating Robi crops in his field in the current year.
He cultivated lentil at one bigha of land without any irrigation cost and he got a bumper production. The price of lentil is Tk 3,800 to 4,000 per maund in the markets.
Farmer Shamsul Haque, said that he cultivated vetch at one bigha of land with a little irrigation cost, he got six maunds of vetch from per bigha of land. The price of vetch is Tk 2,200 to 2,500 per maund in the markets this year, he added.
Not only he but also a good number of farmers here earned a fair profit cultivating Rabi crops, he added.
Golam Mostafa, wheat grower of Phirojpur village of the upazila, said that he cultivated wheat at 8 bighas of land with a little irrigation cost, he
got 12 maunds of wheat from per bigha land.
The price of per maund wheat is Tk 960 to 1,000 in the markets. He earned Tk 5,000 as profit from per bigha of lands, he added.
Godagari Agriculture Officer Tofikur Rahman said that paddy cultivation demands huge irrigation in the barind tract whereas Rabi crops cultivation needs a little irrigation.
As a result, the farmers here are more interested in cultivating Robi crops like wheat, onion, garlic, potato, lentil, vetch and some other crops in their fields. It can be very positive for the farmers to get bumper production of Rabi crops, he also hopped.
