RAJSHAHI, April 11, 2022 (BSS) - Over 36.25 lakh tonnes potatoes were produced from around 1.65 lakh hectares of land in all eight districts of the division making the farmers happy due to its good yield and cherished market price during the current season.
Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) sources said they had set a target of yielding 33.42 lakh tonnes of potatoes from 1,64,410 hectares of land but the enthusiastic farmers brought 1,64,590 hectares of land under its cultivation, expediting the additional yield.
DAE Deputy Director Mozder Hossain said the potato harvesting ended very recently while huge job opportunities were generated during the time.
Growers were seen delighted as they got good yield for favourable climate conditions everywhere in the region, including its vast Barind tract which is considered a suitable place for potato production, he said.
Agriculturalist Hossain said the farmers are being interested in potato farming as it's being adjudged as a less-irrigation consuming crop than the boro paddy.
Meanwhile, on behalf of the 'Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM)' project, more than 12.58 lakh community people of 2.66 lakh households are also being motivated and encouraged for potato farming to reduce the gradually mounting pressure on underground water.
The project is being implemented by DASCOH Foundation at 1,280 drought-hit villages in 39 Unions and three pourasavas of eight upazilas in Rajshahi, Naogaon and Chapainawabganj districts supported by Switzerland since 2015, said Jahangir Alam Khan, Coordinator of the IWRM project.
Mozammel Haque, a farmer of Hatkanpara village under Durgapur Upazila, had cultivated potatoes on 35 bighas of land. He said many of his co-villagers are getting lucrative market price of the potatoes at present.
He said potato is now being sold at Taka 540 to 650 per maund in local wholesale markets according to size and quality.
Dabir Ali, 45, another farmer of Mougachhi village under Mohanpur Upazila, had cultivated it on around 170 bighas of land in Krishnapur area of Tanore Upazila.
"I had cultivated the cash crop on 110 bighas of land in the same area in the previous year and harvested around 8,800 maunds of potatoes and my profit was around Taka one crore," said Ali, expressing his happiness over this year's yield.
Abu Hena Mostofa Kamal, another commercial farmer of Mollikpur village under Paba upazila, said potato farming has been increasing significantly for the last couple of years because of its better output.
Commercial potato farming has been expanded to the dried lands of the vast Barind tract in a massive way for the last couple of years due to promotion of irrigation facilities by the Barind Multipurpose Development Authorities (BMDA), sources said.
Meanwhile, potato farming through the net house system has also been gaining popularity in the region, they said.
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 this year.
He said the farming of seed 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.
In the previous season, the farmers had harvested more than 16.57 lakh tonnes of potato from around 76,661 hectares in the division, said Mozder Hossain.
