Mustard growers and agriculture officials in Thakurgaon and Panchagarh districts are expecting a bumper yield of the cash crop this season.

"Bumper yield of mustard is expected due to favourable climatic conditions this season. Besides, coming of more honey bees in mustard fields during the pollination period helped healthy fertilisation and pod formation of the crop," said Arshedul Haque, deputy director of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) in Thakurgaon.     

Farmers have been suggested to spray 3/4 ml of Melathion or any other pesticide of the same group mixed with one litre of water on the fields if there is aphid attack on the crops due to dense fog and severe cold, he said.   

The farmers have cultivated mainly six varieties of mustard -- BARI Sarisha 9, BARI Sarisha 11, BARI Sarisha 14, BARI Sarisha 15, Tori 7 (a local improved variety) and Bashori (Indian).

During this correspondent's recent visit to different areas of Sadar upazila in Thakurgaon and Boda and Tentulia upazilas in Panchagarh, farmers said they will start harvesting the crop late this month. 

Bozlar Rahman, 53, a farmer of Dakkhin Bothina village in Sadar upazila, said he cultivated mustard on one and a half bigha (one bigha = 0.3306 acre) of land and made a profit of Tk 10,000 last year.

"This season I cultivated mustard on two bighas of land and expect a bumper yield," he said.  

"Mustard cultivation, requiring only two times light irrigation, is easier and less costly than cultivation of other crops but it brings good profit. It is done between the gap period of aman and boro paddy farming," said Islam, 45, a sharecropper of Moidandighi village in Boda upazila, who cultivated mustard on 1.5 bighas of land.       

October to mid-November is the suitable time for mustard cultivation and it takes 65/70 days to get the yield, said farmers and officials.

But many farmers in Thakurgaon and Panchagarh districts cultivate the crop till late December.    

In Thakurgaon, 9,520 hectares of land has been brought under mustard cultivation against the target of 13,190 hectares with the production target of 15,564 tonnes this season, said DAE officials. 

Although the cultivation area is less than the target, good yield is expected as the crop has grown well.  

In Panchagarh, farmers cultivated the cash crop on 1,694 hectares of land against the target of 1,690 hectares with the production target of 1,994 tonnes, said DAE sources. 

The farmers are interested to cultivate the crop as they got its repeated bumper yield and expected prices in recent years, DAE officials said.    

The DAE authorities campaigned among the farmers for cultivating hybrid varieties of mustard invented by Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute (BARI) between the gaps of aman and boro to get better profit. 

The DAE, BARI and other organisations distributed quality mustard seeds while commercial banks disbursed agriculture loan among farmers in the two northern districts for the cultivation of the cash crop.