Mustard fields, which are now in full bloom in the vast tracts of land in the district, have already worn eye catching yellow looks to all with an expectation of bumper production.
According to sources, the cultivation of mustard has gained much popularity to the farmers of the district in recent years for getting desired production and fair prices.
Office sources said the Department of Agriculture Extension set a target to cultivate quality mustard on 7,244 hectares of land of all the seven upazilas in the district during the current season.
Later, the cultivation target fixed by the department was exceeded and finally, a total of 7,820 hectares of land were brought under the farming this year with the production target of 8,690 tonnes of mustard.
Of the total, some 750 hectares of land were cultivated in Sadar upazila, 540 in Sadullapur, 475 in Palashbari, 4,400 in Gobindaganj, 480 in Sundarganj, 625 in Saghata and 550 in Fhulchhari upazila in the district.
Now, the farmers are so much busy to nurture the mustard field as per the directions of the field level sub assistant agriculture officials, reports UNB.
Sub-Assistant Agriculture Officer M Mokbul Hossain said the farmers of the district had been showing more interest in cultivating mustard in recent years after getting repeated bumper production and better prices of the Robi crop.
Crop production specialist of DAE Golam Mostafa said the favourable climatic condition, proper distribution of high quality seed, timely supply of fertilisers and other agri inputs to the growers and less pest attacks in the field are the reasons behind the expectation.
Meanwhile, the commercial banks including Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank also disbursed soft loan to the growers during the season to boost production of the crop, bank sources said.
The DAE sources said the land owned by flood affected farmers were also brought under this cultivation this year to help them recover the losses caused by floods.
