Carrot cultivation brings cheers for char farmers

For the first time, carrots are being grown commercially in char areas of Teesta river, where farmers previously grew the vegetable only for personal consumption.

Having been pleased by this year's yields, the char farmers now plan on expanding acreage next season.

As per sources at the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in Rangpur, carrots were cultivated on 1,900 hectares of land across 30 chars of Teesta river in the Lalmonirhat, Kurigram, Rangpur, Gaibandha and Nilphamari districts.

With each hectare producing about 30 tonnes of carrot, farmers are now selling the crop for as much as Tk 15 per kilogramme (kg) directly from their fields.

Those who leased lands for cultivation spent an average of about Tk 2.5 lakh to sow carrot on each hectare while farmers who have their own land spent Tk 1 lakh per hectare.

Ayub Ali, a madrasa teacher by profession in the Char Kalmati area of Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila, said he leased 8.5 acres of land to cultivate carrot at a cost of around Tk 9 lakh.

Ali's farm yielded 1.10 lakh kgs of the vegetable, earning him some Tk 6.5 lakh.

"Seeing my success, many farmers have become interested in growing carrots commercially," he added.

Afzal Hossain, a farmer of the same char, said he spent Tk 12,000 to cultivate carrot on one bigha of land to get 3,700 kgs of the crop, which were then sold for Tk 45,000.

Having succeeded in producing carrots on the sandy char land, he now plans to expand cultivation.

"We used to only grow carrots on a small scale for our own use," he added.

Majibur Rahman, a farmer of Char Ichli in Gangachara upazila of Rangpur, said he got the expected profit of Tk 2.20 lakh by cultivating carrots on 5 bighas of land at cost of Tk 58,000.

"The method of commercially farming carrot on sandy char land was not known before but this year, with the help of the agriculture department, I have succeeded in cultivation. Now, I will cultivate more in the future," he added.

Nagen Chandra Barman, a farmer of Char Gatiashyam in Rajarhat upazila of Kurigram, said as many as 30 growers in the area have successfully cultivated carrots on a commercial basis this year.

Barman then informed that it does not cost much to cultivate carrot on char land while profits are good.

He earned Tk 55,000, excluding expenses, by cultivating the crop on two bighas of land.

Mohammad Shah Alam, additional director of the Rangpur DAE, said local vegetable markets are now packed to the brim with carrots grown in char areas.

The crop is also being shipped to various other parts of the country, he added.

Alam went on to say that the DAE extended all kinds of support for the commercial cultivation of carrots in the region.

In addition, many other crops are now being commercially cultivated on char land, he said.