The farmers in Jhenaidah have happily started harvesting the profitable spicy crop garlic as they have been receiving better prices since the beginning of harvesting.
Each maund (40 kilograms) of garlic is sold at Taka 1,500 to 1,600.
Ashraful Islam, 51, a farmer of Bijulia village in most popular area for onion and garlic producing Shailkupa upazila, said he cultivated garlic on his 83 decimals of land this season. He is expecting 40 maunds of the crop from one bigha. The net profit from each bigha will stand at around 40 thousand excluding seeds, fertilizer, pesticides, labour and transport costs.
Farmer Ananta Mandal of Kalicharanpur in Jhenaidah sadar upazila expressed his hope and said he will harvest at least 130 maunds of garlic from his three bighas of land. The net profit from his crop might be around Taka 1.40 lakh this season. Both garlic and onion cultivating is profitable for farmers, he added.
Amjad Mandal, a garlic and onion vendor from Bogura when contacted at Shailkupa kitchen market on Tuesday, said both the crops (onion and garlic) have demand in the markets of Khulna, Rajshai, Bogura, Chattagram and other markets of the country. The agents of the top traders purchase the crops in cash from the farmers on two weekly Haats on Saturday and Tuesday, he further said.
According to the office of the deputy director of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) in Jhenaidah said the farmers of the district brought 2,596 hectares of land in the current season. A total of 25,500 tones of garlic are expected to be harvested. They produced 25,195 tones of garlic on some 2,580 hectares of land in the last season, DAE sources said.
DAE Deputy Director Asgar Ali said the farmers of the district, especially, Shailkupa farmers, have been playing a vital role in garlic and onion production since long.
They are always one step ahead than the farmers of other upazilas of the district. Most of them are trained in farming and follow the guidelines given by the DAE officials time to time. They also apply the modern technology and agro inputs for their professional activities, he added.
