Farmers of various grazing areas of Pabna Bara Upazila are now spending busy time in black gram cultivation. Majority of the upazila seems busy cultivating this crop as black gram farming promise high yield and good income.
In Charnakalia, Charsandashia, Char Bengalia, Charnagdah villages on the surface, it can be seen the farmers waking up and running with black gram seeds to sow food. Some are tending the fields, some are plowing the land with tractors, some are leveling the land with a ladder. Again, in all the lands that were flooded by monsoon water this year, instead of plowing with tractors, the farmers are sowing black gram seeds in the grass land.
After talking with the farmer Sattar Bepari of Char Sandashia village, he said that after the monsoon water has receded, the field has to be taken care of and made suitable for crop cultivation from the beginning of the eighty-ninth month. But if monsoon water rises in t he land then no cultivation is required.
After the water recedes, if the black gram seeds are scattered to eat, the black gram crop will grow. black gram yield is available in just three months. Among the cash crops of the pastures, black gram is a profitable crop. He cultivates black gram in 2-3 bigha of land every year.
Amjad Molla, a farmer of the same village, said that last year, he made a profit by cultivating black gram on 5 bigha land. So this year he will cultivate black gram in 8 bigha land. He has already finished sowing seeds on 5 bigha land. The remaining 3 bighas of land are being prepared for black gram cultivation. Zahid Mollah, a resident of Char Nagdah village and a local UP member, said that this year we have cultivated black gram on 14 bighas of land.
Omar Molla, a farmer of that village, said that last year I cultivated black gram on 4 bigha land. 15 mound of black gram was produced in four bigha land. I made a profit by selling it starting from 3 thousand to 3800 taka. This year, I bought black gram seeds from the market at the price of 100 taka per kg to sow black gram in the field.
However, this year I have increased the land for black gram cultivation by 1 bigha. Siltu Sheikh, a UP member of Pechakola village, said, I cultivate black gram on 14-15 bigha land. It is a very profitable crop, costing 2 to 3 thousand rupees in all. During the season, black gram is sold for 3 thousand to 4 thousand Tk per mound.
Again, if we sell grass as feed for cattle, it makes a lot of profit. Nabi Molla of Charnakalia village said that this year he has cultivated black gram on 10 bigha of land. 1 bigha of land requires 7 to 10 kg of seeds. In all, the maximum cost is 2500 to 3000 Tk per bigha. A total of 3 to 3 and a half mounds of black gram is yielded in each harvest. It is sold for 3 to 4 thousand TK per mound. It benefits the farmer. He said that black gram seeds are being sold at the rate of Tk 100 per kg in the current market.
Charbengalia village farmer Hazrat Ali 30 bigha, Charnakalia village farmer Atiyar 15 bigha, Khalek Sheikh 10 bigha, A. Jalil 8 bigha, Rahman Molla 15 bigha, Paren Sheikh of Pechakola village has cultivated mashkalai in 22 bigha this year and is preparing the land for cultivation. Due to the late monsoon, the harvest has been delayed for some time. They said that about 70 percent of the land has been cultivated by sowing and cultivating black gram seeds.
In the remaining lands, the sowing work will be completed in a few days. These farmers also said that since all the lands in the grazing areas were not flooded with water during the monsoon season this year, many lands had to be plowed with plows or tractors and land was being prepared with ladders. Due to this, the farmers have to spend about 4 hundred rupees more per bigha.
Black gram is cultivated for seed by 15th of October but black gram cultivation has also been delayed due to late onset of last monsoon season. However, black gram farming as cattle fodder will continue for the entire month of October, said Deputy Assistant Agriculture Officer of
Bara Upazila Agriculture Office Yushub Ali.
Bara Upazila Agriculture Officer Nusrat Kabir said that the government has already distributed TSP, potash, urea fertilizer and 5 kg of black gram seeds among 540 small and marginal farmers of the upazila. He said, this year, the target level of black gram cultivation in this upazila has been set in 2 thousand hectares of land. Due to the increase in the price and demand of black gram (pulses) seeds and grass (cattle fodder), it is expected that black gram will be cultivated in about 200 hectares more than the target.
He also informed that about 1300 to 1350 hectares of pasture land of Puran Varenga, New Varenga, Ruppur and Dhallachar Union of Berar Upazila are cultivated for making black gram seeds.
Black gram is cultivated in a wide area of grassland including the area inside the flood control dam of the upazila. Farmers cultivate black gram on about 700 hectares to 850 hectares of land as cattle fodder.
