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Bumper production of garlic during the just-ended Rabi season with an all-time high market price of the essential spicy commodity has made farmers cheerful in the Rangpur agricultural region.
Officials of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) said a target of producing 29,555 tonnes of garlic was fixed from 3,645 hectares of land for all five districts in the region during the last Rabi season.
However, farmers cultivated garlic on 3,366 hectares of land, less by only 279 hectares of land against the fixed farming target, across the region.
"After completing harvest recently, farmers got a bumper production of 27,737 tonnes of garlic at the average yield rate of 8.24 tonnes per hectare of land," said Additional Director of DAE for Rangpur region Agriculturist Md Aftab Hossain.
The DAE and other agriculture-related departments, institutions and organizations extended necessary assistance and the latest technologies and commercial banks easy-term agri-loans to farmers to make the garlic farming program a success.
"After getting repeated bumper production with rewarding market prices of garlic in recent years, farmers are showing keen interest in expanding farming of the spicy crop," Hossain said.
Talking to BSS, farmer Md Anwar Hossain of Char Paschim Mohipur village in Gangachara upazila of Rangpur said he cultivated garlic on the dried-up Teesta riverbed and got a bumper production this time.
Farmers Aiyub Ali, Mohsin Ali and Khairul Islam of different villages in the Mominpur union of Rangpur Sadar upazila said they cultivated garlic on their croplands and got an excellent output and rewarding prices this season.
Deputy Director at Burirhat Horticulture Centre in Rangpur of the DAE Agriculturist Md Abu Sayem appreciated the government for taking realistic steps through the DAE and other organizations to increase the production of spicy crops.
"Responding to the call of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to bring every inch of land under crop farming, farmers are cultivating spicy crops, including garlic, in more lands this time to further increase production," he said.
Deputy Director of the DAE for Rangpur Agriculturist Md. Obaidur Rahman Mondal said farmers are showing more interest in farming garlic adopting the ‘zero-tillage’ method on the same land after harvesting Aman paddy.
Soil moisture of the paddy fields helps farmers in sowing garlic seeds by adopting the zero-tillage method in increasing production by saving costs of labour and irrigation and reaping more profits.
"The DAE and other agriculture-related organizations are working to popularize the zero-tillage garlic farming method among farmers to enhance its production in the region," Mondal added.
Retail vegetable trader Md Fazlur Rahman at Keranipara Kitchen Market in Rangpur city today told BSS that farmers are selling their locally produced garlic at rates between Tk 5,600 and Tk 5,800 per mound (every 40 kgs) to wholesalers.
Wholesalers are selling locally produced garlic at rates between Tk 6,000 and Tk 6,400 per mound or Tk 150 and Tk 160 per kg to retailers in the city.
"On the other hand, retailers are selling locally produced garlic at rates between Tk 7,000 and Tk 7,200 per mound or between Tk 175 and Tk 180 per kg on an average depending on the size and quality," Rahman said.
