Rangpur region farmers produce 23,012 tonnes of groundnut

Farmers in five districts of the Rangpur agricultural region produced a record 23,012 tonnes of groundnut, a highly profitable cash crop, in the last Rabi and the just-concluded Kharif-1 seasons this year.

Market sources said that farmers are very happy to earn high profits by selling their produced groundnut to wholesalers at a price of Tk4,200 to Tk4,400 per mound (per 40 kg).

Acting Additional Director of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) for Rangpur region Agriculturist Md Sirajul Islam said a target of producing 12,380 tonnes of groundnut from 5,761 hectares of land for the region during the last Rabi season.

"However, farmers had finally cultivated groundnut on 5,679 hectares of land and produced 11,928 tonnes of the cash crop in the region during the last Rabi season," he told BSS.

Similarly, the DAE fixed a target of producing 11,470 tonnes of groundnuts from 5,384 hectares of land for all five districts of Rangpur, Gaibandha, Lalmonirhat, Kurigram and Nilphamari of the region during the Kharif-1 season.

"However, farmers had finally cultivated groundnut on 5,253 hectares of land and produced 11,084 tonnes of the crop during the just-ended Kharif-1 season," he said.

In recent years, farmers have been getting excellent yields by cultivating high-yielding varieties of groundnut developed by the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) across the region.

"With the increasing demand for groundnut in the country's boosting food industry, farmers are expanding its cultivation in the mainland and vast pasture areas, after getting repeated bumper yields and good prices in recent years," Islam added.

Md Mamunur Rashid, a PhD Fellow in the Department of Agricultural Extension at Dinajpur Haji Mohammad Danesh University of Science and Technology, said farmers can earn Tk80,000 by producing 22 to 28 mounds of groundnut per acre of land.

Rashid, also an agriculture and environmental expert, said that ordinary farmers and people in the char people have been expanding groundnut cultivation as a profitable cash crop in recent years, effectively improving their livelihoods and quality of life.

Besides, groundnut cultivation is increasing every year on the mainland and in the vast riverine sandy char areas due to the massive growth of the food industry and the increasing demand for this agricultural product.

Groundnut trader Md Mokhlesur Rahman at Rangpur City Market told BSS, farmers are selling their just-harvested groundnut in the last Kharif-1 season to wholesalers at rates between Tk4,200 and 4,400 per mound depending on varieties and qualities.

"We are selling groundnut to the retailers at rates between Tk4,800 and Tk5,000 per mound after purchasing those from farmers at rural areas and local markets of all five districts in Rangpur agricultural region," he said.

Among other farmers, Anwarul Islam, Lutfar Rahman, Yasin Ali, Saidul Islam, Nurul Haque and Mohammad Ali of Gangachara and Kawnia Upazilas in Rangpur told BSS, they got bumper groundnut output during the last Rabi and Kharif-1 seasons with gainful prices.