BP Tourism Desk
As far as the eye can see, till the horizon, Chalan Beel field is found filled to the brim with yellow mustard flowers.
Chalan Beel in Natore, the Biggest Beel of Asia, is also one of the most famous beel in the country.
It seems that a yellow sea is swaying in the gentle breeze blowing through the fog, over the wide area including its Gurdaspur parts in the district.
People from different parts of the district visit the area every day during winter to see this eye-catching sight of the yellow procession.
The beautiful view of nature fascinates everyone, while farmers are busy taking care of it till the last moment.
Besides the general public, beekeepers also come here. They are found busy collecting honey from the mustard flowers like every year.
According to locals, the number of visitors is increasing every year. As per their statement, in monsoon travelers can enjoy the wide water body and in the dry season there is a yellow procession of mustard flowers and wide-green scenery of boro paddy filed. Who does not want to get lost in such an environment!
Kundail, Makarshon, Kamarshon, Saguna and Magura and Binod villages of Tarash upazila of Sirajganj are full of yellow mustard fields. In addition, the young men and women are repeatedly losing themselves in the vast mustard fields which stretch to the horizon. During the holidays or leisure time, hundreds of nature-loving people flock to the area. People compete with each other to capture the scene on their camera phones.
Mustard farmers including Rajab Ali, Azizur Rahman Green, Mir Taufiq Ahmed, Sohrab Hossain, Dulal Hossain, Haider Ali said that cultivating mustard is a tradition of Chalan Beel. Almost all farmers started cultivating mustard at the same time. Every farmer cultivates mustard on the land from 10 to 40 bigha. Because of the simultaneous weeding of the mustard, the plants also grow at the same time. As a result, the mustard field is yellow.
Referring to the crowds of tourists in the mustard field, farmers said that many enter the middle of the field. It destroys some mustard. Yet they do not interrupt anyone because it is the heritage of the area. They feel happy when people come to visit.
The Chalan Beel is spread across Tarash, Ullapara, Shahjadpur and Raiganj of Sirajganj district, Chatmohar of Pabna district, Faridpur and Bhanura, Singara and Gurdaspur of Natore district and Atrai upazila of Naogaon district. The Beel has 16 small rivers and 22 canals. The total area of crop land is 1 lakh 66 thousand 535 hectares. Thousands of farmers' livelihoods in this area depend on a wide range of agricultural land. Most people make their livelihood from rice, mustard and fish produced during the monsoon.
Deputy Director of the Sirajganj Agricultural Extension Department Md Habibul Haque said that this year there was a bumper yield of mustard. Mustard is being cultivated on 52 thousand 680 hectares of land in the district. Most of it has been cultivated in the Chalan Beel region. This year, the farmers are cultivating more than 2,105 hectares of land. This year, the production target of mustard has been estimated at about 1.25 lakh metric tons.
