RANGPUR, April 27, 2021 (BSS) – The Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) has fixed a target for farmers to produce six lakh 89 thousand and 367 bales of jute in Rangpur agriculture region this season.
The DAE officials said a target of producing 6,89,367 bales of jute fibre has been fixed from 58,520 hectares of land for all five districts in the region this season.
Under the programme, farmers will produce 6,45,936 bales of ‘Tosha’ variety jute fibre from 54,100 hectares of land, 34,928 bales of ‘Deshi’ variety fibre from 3,560 hectares, 2,628 bales of ‘Mechta’ variety of jute from 360 hectares and 5,875 bales of Kenaf variety of jute from 500 hectares of land this season.
Farmers will cultivate jute on 9,830 hectares of land in Rangpur, 16,090 hectares in Gaibandha, 19,660 hectares in Kurigram, 4,640 hectares in Lalmonirhat and 8,300 hectares of land in Nilphamari districts of the region.
“Farmers have already brought 41,415 hectares of land, 78.51 percent against the fixed farming target, under jute cultivation till Monday in the region,” said Agriculturist Khandker Abdul Wahed, additional director of the DAE for Rangpur region.
The tender jute plants are growing superbly amid favourable climatic conditions as sowing jute seeds is nearing completion in the region where harvest of the crop will begin from July next.
“Getting lucrative prices between Taka 4,000 and Taka 5,000 per mound of jute last season, farmers are expected to exceed the fixed farming target after getting high yielding varieties of jute seeds and other assistance from the government,” he said.
The government has declared jute as national agricultural product and made use of jute sacs mandatory in various sectors to increase local demand and ensure fair prices by enhancing its cultivation despite cultivation of Aush rice and maize on more land area.
The DAE and other government and non-government organisations and dealers supplied locally produced high quality and imported jute seeds to farmers and are providing latest technologies to them to expand jute cultivation to revive past glory of the fibre.
“Necessary training and inputs have also been provided to farmers for separating and rotting of jute fibre adopting latest technologies to ensure better quality to enable them in getting higher price of their produced jute,” Wahed said.
Senior Coordinator (Agriculture and Environment) of RDRS Bangladesh Agriculturist Mamunur Rashid said tender jute plants are growing superbly amid favourable climatic conditions predicting an abundant production of the fibre crop this season.
Talking to BSS, farmers Abdur Rahim, Solaiman Ali, Mubarak Hossain, Echhahaq Ali, Ariful Haque and Manik Mian of different villages in Rangpur Sadar upazila said tender jute plants are growing superbly on their crop fields predicting a bumper production.
Similarly, farmers Amenur Rahman, Iqbal Hossain, Mofizar Rahman and Arifuzzaman Moon of Badarganj, Gangachara and Taraganj upazilas in Rangpur said that they have completed sowing of jute seeds and are expecting a bumper jute production.