Experts at a farmers’ field day have asked the farmers for expanding cultivation of short duration mugbean as off season and additional cash crop to earn more profits and meet local pulse demand.
RDRS Bangladesh organised the field day on the occasion of exhibition of BARI Mug- 6 variety mugbean on the field of farmer Mostak Ahmed on Monday at Namatari village under Sadar upazila in Lalmonirhat district.
Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) for Lalmonirhat, Shafayat Hossain attended the occasion as the chief guest with Gokunda Union Federation Chairman Abdul Bari in the chair.
Sadar Upazila Agriculture Officer of Lalmonirhat Mohammad Nuruzzman and Sub-assistant Agriculture Officer of the DAE Fulchan Barman addressed as special guests.
Assistant Coordinator of RDRS Bangladesh Abdul Mannan, its Senior Women Affairs Officer Dilruba Begum, members of Gokunda Union Federation and 200 male and female farmers of the area were present.
Technical Officer (Agriculture) of the NGO Nirmal Kumar Kundu narrated the technology for mugbean farming adopting the short duration Aman-mustard/ potato-mugbean-short duration Aus (parija) cropping pattern that enables cultivation of four crops on the same land annually.
He said 2,100 farmers of Rangpur division have cultivated mugbean this year with the assistances of RDRS Bangladesh and supports of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agriculture University and Krishi Gobeshona Foundation.
Under the programme, RDRS Bangladesh has provided training and pesticides and supplied 2.5 kg seed of BARI Mug 6 and BU Mug 4 to each farmer for cultivation of the crops in one bigha land this season in eight districts of Rangpur division.
After harvesting mustard, the farmers sowed mugbean seed to harvest within 60-70 days and cultivate parija as Aus crop to be followed by farming of short duration Aman on the same land under the new cropping pattern evolved by RDRS Bangladesh.
