RAJSHAHI, Nov 20, 2019 (BSS) – Target has been set to produce more than
35.81 lakh tonnes of potato from around 1.56 lakh hectares of land in all
eight districts of Rajshahi division including its vast Barind tract during
the current season.
Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) has set the target and
adopted all sorts of measures to attain the cherished target everywhere in
the region, said Deb Dulal Dhali, Additional Director of DAE here today.
Meanwhile, the farmers are passing busy time for preparing their farming
land as the seed sowing activities will start from the first week of next
month in full swing.
Farmers and other officials concerned are very much hopeful about good
potato production if the overall weather conditions remains favorable.
With the hope of making profit like the previous season, the farmers in
the current season are likely to cultivate potato on more land than that of
the previous seasons.
Agriculturist Dhali said the field level officials, experts and other
organisations concerned have been providing necessary instructions to the
farmers to make their upcoming farming a total success.
Most of the growers’ harvested better yields of potato in last two to
three years.
Ziarul Haque, a farmer of Baya village under Paba upazila, said, “The
market price is good. An 85-kg potato sac is being sold at Taka 900 to 950 in
local markets at present.”
Another farmer Abdur Rahim said there is a need of enhancing the number
of cold storages for betterment of the potato growers.
Commercial potato farming has been expanded to the dried lands in
massive way during the last couple of years in the vast Barind tract as a
result of promoting irrigation facilities by the Barind Multipurpose
Development Authorities (BMDA).
Potato farming through net house system for multiplying the tissue-
culture based seed-potato successfully has also been gaining popularity in
the region.
Abu Hena Mostofa Kamal, a commercial farmer of Mollikpur village under
Paba upazila, said number and acreage of the modern farming method has been
enhanced significantly for the last couple of years because of its better
output.
Mijanur Rahman Kazi, general secretary of Seed Potato Growers
Cooperative Society, told BSS that around 500 seed growing farmers were very
happy with their satisfactory yield achieved through using the net-house
farming method last year.
He said the farming of foundation seed of potato through using tissue
culture technology and net-house system has gradually been gaining popularity
everywhere in the region for the last couple of years.