Mustard

They grow mustard but it was huge this year.

Farmers and Agriculture Extension Department (AED) officials are hopeful to get bumper production of mustard in the district this year following good yield of the crop.

Good yield of mustard in last year inspired Pabna farmers to cultivate the crop in a large scale this year, AED sources said.

This year farmers have cultivated mustard on over 30 thousand hectares of land in the district, which is a little more than the cultivation target fixed by the AED while filed reports show that the rate of production will be much higher than expectation.

“Earlier we expected production of 30 thousand 65 tonnes of mustard in the district this year as there was target of one tonne production per hectare of land. Following the recent field report, we are hopeful to get bumper production of mustard. Now we are hopeful to get 1.2 tonnes of mustard in each hectare of land and the total amount of production in the district would be over 36 thousand tonnes,” said Agriculture Official Shahin.

Of the 30 thousand 65 hectares of lands that was brought under mustard cultivation in the district this year, 5600 hectares are in Pabna Sadar upazila, 2355 hectares in Atghoria upazila, 800 hectares in Ishwardi upazila, 5400 hectares in Chatmohar upazila, 5520 hectares in Vangura upazila, 5740 hectares in Faridpur upazila, 2500 hectares in Bera upazila, 1300 hectares in Santhia upazila and 850 hectares in Sujanagar upazila, AED sources said.

“Although untimely rain hampered mustard farming in the beginning of the cultivation season, farmers in the district braved all the obstacles and cultivated mustard on 30.06 thousand hectares of land in the district,” Md Shahin, a development officer of Pabna AED office, told The Daily Star yesterday.

The area of cultivation would be more if untimely rain during the cultivation period of the crop did not hamper mustard cultivation at the primary stage, AED officials said.

During this correspondent's visit to a few mustard fields, farmers also expressed hope to get bumper production of mustard this year.