The chilli growers in Panchagarh are incurring loss due to incessant heatwave resulting in drought in the district.
According to Panchagarh District Department of Agricultural Extension sources, the farmers of the district have cultivated hybrid and local verities of Chillies on a total of eight thousand 600 and 87 hectares of land this year. The hybrid verities are –Hybri, Hot Master, Bijli, Mollika, Bari1-2, Bash Gaiya, Baluchuri and Bindu.
Among the verities, there was a good yield of Bari1-2 and Master Mollika.
However, many farmers of the district have been facing financial loss due to lack of rain and drought.
A chilli grower of Ronchandi area under Sadar union of Tentulia Upazila of the district, Amirul Islam, said that he expected to get a yield of 200 to 250 maunds of Red Gold variety of chilli. But, the yield was not up to the mark due to insects and drought. Many plants were dying before harvesting on the field. He might face a loss of around Tk two lakh cultivating chilli this year.
Around Tk 9 to Tk 13 is spent as labor cost per Kg to collect chilli. Many women and child laborers were working at chilli fields.
Currently, the market price of per maund of red chilli is Tk 8,500 to Tk 9,000.
Deputy Director of Panchagarh District Department of Agricultural Extension, Agriculturist M Abdul Motin, said, “The weather of this region is favorable for farming. However, some chilli growers could not get a good crop due to lack of rain. On the other hand, those farmers got a good yield who irrigated well at their fields.”
