1.65 lakh tonnes pulse yield likely in Rajshahi division, Around 1.65 lakh tonnes of pulses are expected to be produced in all eight districts of the Rajshahi division during the current Rabi season, officials said. Various types of pulses, including black gram, lentil, grass-pea, chickpea, pea (motorshuti), winter mung bean, and pigeon-pea, are likely to be produced from around 1.24 lakh hectares of land.
1.65 lakh tonnes pulse yield likely in Rajshahi division
The target has been set to produce 61,433 tonnes of pulses from 42,808 hectares of land in four districts of the Rajshahi Agricultural Zone, while 60,357 tonnes from 45,268 hectares in four other districts of the Bogura Agricultural Zone. The target of producing 71,249 tonnes of lentil was set from 47,269 hectares of land, 3,053 tonnes of chickpea from 1,960 hectares, 43,057 tonnes of black gram from 39,501 hectares, and 43,136 tonnes of grass-pea from 31,630 hectares of land.
Apart from this, 4,335 tonnes of peas are likely to be produced from 3,116 hectares, 103 tonnes of pigeon peas from 101 hectares, and 127 tonnes of winter mung bean from 100 hectares of land. Modern Hossain, Deputy Director of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), said they have already adopted all possible measures to meet the existing demand for pulses by attaining the production target.
He said the growers here are showing more interest in lentil cultivation as it does not take much irrigation cost. Besides, they got abundant production in the last few years. Some 11,300 farmers were given seeds and fertilizers free of cost for grass-pea farming under the government’s agriculture incentive program. Similarly, 6,350 farmers received seed and fertilizer incentives worth around Taka 13 lakh for lentil farming, while 4,000 got incentives valued at Taka 8.18 lakh for mung-bean cultivation.
Sub Assistant Agriculture Officer Atanu Sarker told BSS that the farmers are seen getting a better yield of the cash crops for the last couple of years as a result of promoting high-yielding varieties and modern management. All the government and non-government entities concerned are motivating the farmers for farming various water-saving crops including pulses in the Barind area to lessen the gradually mounting pressure on underground water, he said. More than 1,500 volunteers are encouraging and inspiring farmers to cultivate less water-consuming crops through water resource management on behalf of the ‘Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM)’ Project.
DASCOH Foundation has been implementing the IWRM project in 1,280 drought-hit villages of 39 Union Parishad and three municipalities in eight upazilas of Rajshahi, Naogaon, and Chapainawabganj districts supported by Switzerland since 2015. Farmers have started showing interest in the cultivation of pulses as they reaped a lucrative market price of the crops in the last couple of years, said IWRM Project Coordinator Jahangir Alam Khan.
Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute’s principal scientific officer Dr Jagadish Chandra Barman said huge pulse output is possible in the Barind region if it is cultivated on around 80,000 hectares of land, which usually remains fallow for more than three months after the harvest of transplanted Aman paddy every year.
The country has to import a huge quantity of pulses, especially lentils to meet its domestic demand. Since there is a bright prospect of increasing its acreage, lentils could be produced in larger amounts with less production cost and the yield will no doubt lessen pressure on import.
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