Mustard farming is on the rise in Natore due to favourable weather, less time and low production cost.
Most of the mustard have been cultivated in riverbank area of the upazila. Farmers of the Sadar upazila are now interested in it as the cultivation requires less care and cost.
Subrata Kumar, deputy director at Natore Department of Agriculture Extention (DAE) office, said mustard farming this year has reduced slightly compared to last year.
However, a large quantity of mustard has been cultivated in the Padma riverbank, he added.
DAE sources said mustard has been cultivated in 6,542 hectares of land in the upazila, a rise of 323 hectares from last year.
Farmer Omar Ali said he cultivated mustard in one bigha of land this year. The cultivation required less irrigation, fertilizer and pesticide.
If good weather prevails here, then he will get a bumper yield, he added.
Upazila agriculture office sources said massive cultivation has been done in this upazila due to the increase of soil fertility this year. The BARI-14 varieties of mustard will play a special role in fulfilling the dreams of farmers as well as meeting the demand of edible oil.
Local farmers say mustard cultivation needs less time and labour and the production cost is low; so they are becoming more interested in its cultivation.
The farmers of the area usually cultivate mustard at the end of the rainy season. This time also they cultivated the crop at the proper time.
Local agriculture office sources said the farmers cultivated high quality mustard, and are expecting good yield, the sources said.
Farmer Hafiz Uddin of the upazila said four to five maunds of mustard can be produced per bigha of land by spending only Tk2,000. If the market price is good, a farmer can easily sell it at Tk2,500 to 3,000 per maund.
Farmer Saiful Islam of Walia village in the upazila said he cultivated mustard on two bighas of land as its production cost is low and profit is more.
He also said mustard can be harvested after two to three months of cultivation. If the weather remains favourable, the production will double, he added.
Upazila Agriculture Officer Md Rafiqul Islam said the local farmers are becoming interested in mustard cultivation as they got more profit.
He also said they are encouraging farmers to cultivate the crop on more lands to protect the fertility of cropland.
He expected bumper yield of mustard this time if the weather remains favourable.