While the government does not promote tobacco cultivation, Lalmonirhat farmers can scarcely resist growing the cash crop because it is so profitable.
They said tobacco farming provides them with additional income because it fetches high prices and requires less time to cultivate than other crops.
But government officials and agricultural experts say farmers are doing irreparable damage to their land for short-term gains.
Pavel Partha, ecology and bio-diversity researcher, said: “Tobacco cultivation is entirely contract farming. Farmers may get immediate rewards but the true cost is environmental degradation.
“Heavy herbicide use required in tobacco farming destroys micro-organisms, other plants and the soil itself. The use of wood to process tobacco further causes other plants to be destroyed.
“This is a severe loss for the land. Farmers are making short-term gains but will suffer losses in the long term.”
Abdur Rouf, a farmer from Benkanda village in Patgram, said: “We used to farm potatoes but it requires a lot of labour and there is a shortage of cold storage facilities in this region.
“Moreover water is scarce, so tobacco is a safe bet for us.”
Decreasing water flows might be encouraging farmers to cultivate crops like tobacco that require less watering, Indo-Bangladesh Joint Rivers Commission (JRC) member Mir Sajjad Hossain said.
But the allure of profits also drives the growing preference for the crop.
“Tobacco fetches twice the price that rice does,” said tobacco wholesaler Hasinur Rahman who said he pays Tk3,000 per maund (1 maund = 37.3242 kilograms) for the crop.
Company agent Lablu Mia purchases tobacco from farmers from April until the end of May. “I have bought 14,000 maunds just from Patgram upazila so far this year.”
Md Moksedul Mia, a farmer from Khatiar Bhita of Patgram, said: “We can bring in the tobacco crop in just 90-95 days. We cultivate tobacco in the gap between rice seasons so our land does not remain idle.”
Kachem Ali Kachu, another farmer, claimed tobacco farming improves the rice crop. “Tobacco grains are like natural fertilisers.”
Kachu said rice farming was becoming increasingly expensive. “Would you sit back and count losses in your business? No! So why should we?
“Tobacco gives us the maximum profit in the minimum period of time.”
Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) officials said 12,141 hectares of land were under tobacco cultivation in five upazilas in Lalmonirhat district this year. In 2014 tobacco was farmed on 10,522 hectares in the district, they said.
Farmers provided different figures, saying tobacco was being grown on 24,281 hectares in the district this year, while the corresponding number last year was 18,211 hectares.
Tobacco was cultivated on just 1,619 hectares of land in 2008.
Aggressive outreach by the six tobacco companies working in the district have caused a sea change for the cultivation of the crop.
Safayet Hossain, DAE deputy director in Lalmonirhat, said: “It is alarming. We never promote the crop but tobacco company agents run very strong door-to-door campaigns. They distribute seed, provide free fertiliser and offer cash incentives to growers.”
Tobacco is planted from late November to mid-December and harvested from the last week of February to the first week of March, producing yields of 45 to 70 maunds per hectare that sell for between Tk3,000 and Tk4,000 per maund.