When the government has taken initiatives to reduce the tobacco farming throughout the country and discouraging farmers to reduce the land for the purposes and make the country free from tobacco by 2041, the department of agriculture extension (DAE) in Jhenaidah, have provided misleading information about the farming of tobacco in the district. They showed 48 per cent of tobacco farming area was reduced in a year. They mentioned there was no tobacco farming in Kochandpur and Harinakundu upazilas which was baseless.
The DAE sources said the farmers of the district brought a total of 148 hectares of land in the district in the current season as against last season’s 286 hectares. They had produced 658 tones of tobacco in last season. Upazila wise break up of the farming in current season was 32 hectares in Jhenaidah Sadar, two hectares in Kaliganj, 84 hectares in bordering Moheshpur and 30 hectares in Shailkupa, while no land for tobacco was brought in Kotchandpur and Harinakundu upazilas. DAE said the area of tobacco farming was 48 percent less than the last season.
When this correspondent had visited a number of tobacco plots in Harinakundu upazila, witnessed huge land was brought under the farming in the season. In some areas some of the farmers either had reduced their land for the farming, new ones started the same farming considering their cash profit from the crop.
Tobacco farmers at village Mathurapur, Barobhadra and Kanyadah when contacted said some of them had reduced their tobacco faming in the season, while, the number of farmers and farming area was increased in the season.
Rabbul Biswas of Baroabhadra, Sayed Ali and Jafar Mandal of Kanyadah villages said they could not stop tobacco farming when the private companies have been offering lucrative profit for the crop and lending interest-free money in advance for the farming. The lend money is realized when the tobacco leafs are sold to the companies. At least 50 acres of tobacco lots were witnessed at Kanyadah village. Tobacco farming in some other villages of Harinakuandu was also visible during the visit.
They said although the government was advising the farmers to reduce their land for tobacco, it offers three to four times profit than paddy, wheat or jute. The cash profit has been encouraging the farmers, they said. A number of farmers at Dangipara on Jhenaidah- Kusthtia highway under Shailkupa upazila when contacted, said most of the farmers do not now the field level staff of the DAE and deprived off any information from the government sector.
Farmer Manirul Islam Maznu said he expanded tobacco farming on 120 decimals as against last season’s 100 decimals hopping a profit for Taka over one lakh excluding all expenditures in a four month duration crop like tobacco.
DAE deputy director of Jhenaidah Khamarbari Asgar Ali when contacted said they provide the information on the basis of the report supplied by their upazila level offices. There might be some error in receiving the information.
