Home ›› 19 Sep 2021 ›› Nation
Carrot farming is gaining popularity among the farmers in Nakla, Nalitabari , Jhenaigati , Sreebardi and Sherpur Sadar upazilas in the district as they can cultivate it at a little cost as well as can make good profit, said District Agricultural Extension (DAE) sources.
Around 8.15 hectares of land has been brought under carrot cultivation this season with a production target 150 tonnes, said Mohit Kumar Sarker, DAE deputy director in Sherpur.
When visited recently, this correspondent saw villages in Nakla upazila are now aglow with bright yellow and orange carrots planted on 5 hectares of farmland.
Nakla is well known across the region for its expertise in harvesting carrots, where the villages in the upazila are known as carrot villages.
Abdul Motaleb, a farmer of the upazila said carrots of the area are popular in the country. Extension of carrot farming can bring a new horizon to the agricultural sector in this region.
“I have cultivated the crop on 35 decimal of land expending Tk 22,000. I hope I will earn 25,000, “he added.
He has been cultivating the crop commercially for 15 years and earns good every year, he also said.
Motaleb said 5 decimal of fallow land needs Tk 3,000 to cultivate the crop from where a farmer can earn Tk 10,000 in a season.
Besides, leaves of the carrot are used as fodder, the farmer said.
Speaking to the Business Post Abdul Hamid, another farmer of the upazila, said he has been planting carrots for the past 20 years and profits.
Another farmer, Raqibul said he planted carrots in 2.5 bigha of land, with expenses of around Tk25, 000 per bigha.
“The present market price will allow me to make a hefty profit. I am selling carrots for Tk35-40 per kilogram,” he also said.
According to DAE sources, carrot cultivation is as easy as growing potato or eggplant and other fruits or vegetables. Saplings can be planted in rows during the period between August and September.
The new variety of carrot can be harvested within three months of its plantation and farmers can earn around Tk 1.5 lakh or 2 lakh by farming from one bigha of land with the expenditure of only Tk 40, 000, said farmer Aminul in the upazila.
Agriculture Officer Sheikh Fazlul Haque Moni of Nakla said the soil of the region is very much favorable and adaptive to carrot cultivation.
There has been a bright prospect of farming carrot everywhere in the region. The farmers can earn huge foreign currencies from carrot export if its commercial farming, he added.
