Aftab Momin, Feni: The worst flood in Feni district in history caused a terrible disaster in the agricultural sector in August.
In Parshuram upazila of the district, 4209 hectares of agricultural land were damaged by the Indian mountain flood waters. The upazila agriculture office said that the recent flood in this upazila caused a loss of 64 crore 11 lakh taka.
The marginal mustard farmers of this upazila are dreaming of turning around in mustard cultivation to overcome the flood damage. This year, in addition to cultivating new crops, the farmers have cultivated mustard on more land than the target compared to the last season.
The upazila agriculture officer said that if there is no problem of natural disasters, there is a possibility of bumper yield in mustard cultivation in Parshuram this season. This will make it possible to overcome the flood damage to some extent.
With the overall cooperation of the agriculture office and the hard work of mustard farmers, mustard cultivation has been possible in 80 decimal of the cropland of the upazila. Pintu Kumar Das, Deputy Assistant Agricultural Officer of the Upazila Agricultural Extension Department, said that mustard cultivation is ongoing in various parts of the upazila, and farmers’ interest in mustard is increasing day by day as it is more profitable than other crops. Accordingly, the amount of mustard cultivation has increased.
The amount of mustard cultivation has doubled this year compared to the last season. In addition to government incentives, farmers are leaning towards mustard cultivation by purchasing fertilizer and seeds themselves.
According to the Department of Agricultural Extension, the maximum mustard cultivation in Parshuram upazila has been done in Box Mahmud Union, and a target of 226 hectares of land has been set for the current season in the upazila.
Mizanur Rahman, Upazila Agricultural Officer of the Department of Agricultural Extension, said that farmers affected by the floods will be able to become financially independent by cultivating mustard.
After harvesting the Aman paddy, oilseeds and pulses and fertilizer incentives have been given to marginal farmers.
To encourage 700 farmers in the upazila to cultivate mustard, free fertilizer and seeds worth about one crore taka have been provided. In addition, mustard seeds were provided to 234 farmers by the Bangladesh Army.