The areas inhabited by Chalan Beel in Pabna, Natore and Sirajganj are getting good yield of mustard this season. Mustard is being sold at a very good price in the market of this area. So the farmers of Chalan Beel area are happy to get good price and yield of mustard.
In the past, farmers in the area used to keep the land fallow for about a couple of months after the rain water went down and before planting Boro saplings.
But at present, they do not leave the land fallow and at this time they tend to cultivate high yielding mustard as an additional crop. With the surplus money that the farmers get by cultivating mustard, the cost of Boro cultivation being paid and some surplus money even remains. As mustard is cultivated on a large area of land, it is also helping to reduce the dependence on edible oil imports.
It has been learned that in recent years, mustard has been cultivated in Chatmohar of Pabna, Bhangura, Faridpur, Tarash of Sirajganj, Ullapara, Raiganj, Shahjadpur, Singra of Natore, Gurudaspur and some more than 70,000 hectares of land. To motivate farmers in the area to cultivate mustard, the government has distributed free incentive seeds and fertilizers among thousands of farmers. The mustard of the lands in Chalan Beel area has already ripened. Farmers are now busy extracting mustard from the land.
Afsar Ali, a mustard farmer from Mirzapur village in Nimaichara union of the upazila, said he has planted mustard on 6 bighas of land this year and already harvested a portion of mustard from his field. He is getting six to seven mounds of mustard per bigha. He also said that he will cultivate Boro paddy after picking mustard from this land. Mustard is currently being sold at Tk 2,500 per mound. Agriculture worker Abdur Razzak said that they are getting Tk 1600 for per mound of mustard extraction. Ripon Fakir, a farmer from Binyabari village, said some people in the area cultivate the land and sow mustard while others cultivate mustard by scattering seeds on fallow land. At the beginning of the season, insects have been observed eating mustard. Even after that the yield is getting fairly good.
Chatmohar Upazila Agriculture Officer AA Masum Billah said mustard has been planted in 6200 hectares of land in Chatmohar upazila alone this season. Mustard extraction has already started. In recent years, mustard has been cultivated in a small area of more than 60,000 hectares in the greater Chalon Beel area. Farmers are being encouraged to cultivate high yielding Bari-17 and Bari-18 varieties of mustard. The average yield per hectare is 1 ton.
