UNB, Sherpur :
Cultivation of a new variety of peanut on vast tracts of char (shoal emerged from riverbed) land on the bank of the Brahmaputra River in the district holds out a bright prospect for the local farmers.
The farmers are cultivating high yielding Cheena Badam-8 variety of peanut, developed by Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute (BARI), on their fallow lands on the bank of the river.
They are gaining profit of Tk35-40 thousand from cultivation of the crop spending Tk4-5 thousand per bigha of land.
The size of BARI Cheena Badam-8 is bigger than those of other varieties of peanut.
Besides, this variety is full of nutrition and has more demand than the other local varieties.
The farmers of Bhagalgarh, Kulur Char, Bhagaldi of Sadar upazila and Narayankhola of Nakla upazila have brought their lands under cultivation of the new variety of peanut.
They get 90-100 maunds of peanut from one acre of land.
Besides, the farmers are gaining profit by selling the new variety of peanut at high market price.
Officials of Jamalpur Regional Agricultural Research Centre are continuously raising awareness among the farmers of Sherpur and Jamalpur districts about cultivating BARI Cheena Badam-8 variety peanut on their lands with a target of gaining more profit.
Scientists of BARI said the peanut growers in Teesta char area are being benefited economically by cultivating the BARI Cheena Badam-8 variety on their lands.
If farming of the new variety peanut can be expanded further in the char areas of the Brahmaputra River, the picture of these areas will completely change, the scientists observed.
According to a survey, a total of 50 hectares of land in the char areas of the Brahmaputra River have been brought under cultivation of the new variety peanut this season.
Moabia Mia, a peanut grower of Narayankhola village in Nakla upazila, said he gets 30 maunds of peanut by farming BARI Cheena Badam-8 on 75 decimals of his land in the dry season which is ¾ times profitable than other local varieties.
He gained profit of Tk40,000 by selling peanut produced spending Tk5,000.
In the dry season, he could not make his land cultivable but following advice of the agricultural officials he brought his land under farming of the new variety peanut.
Delwar Hossain, another grower, said usually he had brought his land under local varieties of peanut but this year he cultivated the new variety on his land and got ¾ times higher quantity of the crop than the local varieties.
He said he will continue to cultivate the new variety of peanut on his land in the future.
Golam Mostafa Khan, a local union parishad member, said the BARI Cheena Badam-8 variety peanut is highly considered by the growers in the char areas for its high profit value.
Chief scientist of Jamalpur Agriculture Research Institute Dr Manjurul Kadir said the farmers in the char areas are gaining profit by cultivating the new variety of peanut.
Dr. Abdus Salam, deputy director of the Department of Agriculture Extension, Sherpur, said he hopes that the farmers of the char areas will be able to change their fate by cultivating this kind of peanut.
Cultivation of a new variety of peanut on vast tracts of char (shoal emerged from riverbed) land on the bank of the Brahmaputra River in the district holds out a bright prospect for the local farmers.
The farmers are cultivating high yielding Cheena Badam-8 variety of peanut, developed by Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute (BARI), on their fallow lands on the bank of the river.
They are gaining profit of Tk35-40 thousand from cultivation of the crop spending Tk4-5 thousand per bigha of land.
The size of BARI Cheena Badam-8 is bigger than those of other varieties of peanut.
Besides, this variety is full of nutrition and has more demand than the other local varieties.
The farmers of Bhagalgarh, Kulur Char, Bhagaldi of Sadar upazila and Narayankhola of Nakla upazila have brought their lands under cultivation of the new variety of peanut.
They get 90-100 maunds of peanut from one acre of land.
Besides, the farmers are gaining profit by selling the new variety of peanut at high market price.
Officials of Jamalpur Regional Agricultural Research Centre are continuously raising awareness among the farmers of Sherpur and Jamalpur districts about cultivating BARI Cheena Badam-8 variety peanut on their lands with a target of gaining more profit.
Scientists of BARI said the peanut growers in Teesta char area are being benefited economically by cultivating the BARI Cheena Badam-8 variety on their lands.
If farming of the new variety peanut can be expanded further in the char areas of the Brahmaputra River, the picture of these areas will completely change, the scientists observed.
According to a survey, a total of 50 hectares of land in the char areas of the Brahmaputra River have been brought under cultivation of the new variety peanut this season.
Moabia Mia, a peanut grower of Narayankhola village in Nakla upazila, said he gets 30 maunds of peanut by farming BARI Cheena Badam-8 on 75 decimals of his land in the dry season which is ¾ times profitable than other local varieties.
He gained profit of Tk40,000 by selling peanut produced spending Tk5,000.
In the dry season, he could not make his land cultivable but following advice of the agricultural officials he brought his land under farming of the new variety peanut.
Delwar Hossain, another grower, said usually he had brought his land under local varieties of peanut but this year he cultivated the new variety on his land and got ¾ times higher quantity of the crop than the local varieties.
He said he will continue to cultivate the new variety of peanut on his land in the future.
Golam Mostafa Khan, a local union parishad member, said the BARI Cheena Badam-8 variety peanut is highly considered by the growers in the char areas for its high profit value.
Chief scientist of Jamalpur Agriculture Research Institute Dr Manjurul Kadir said the farmers in the char areas are gaining profit by cultivating the new variety of peanut.
Dr. Abdus Salam, deputy director of the Department of Agriculture Extension, Sherpur, said he hopes that the farmers of the char areas will be able to change their fate by cultivating this kind of peanut.
