More than 100 families have achieved economic self-reliance through banana farming on char lands on the river Dudhkumar in seven unions of Nageshwari upazila in Kurigram district in last three years.
Officials of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) said char people have cultivated banana on 165 acres of char lands in Bamondanga, Berubari, Raiganj, Kochakata, Bolloverkhas, Kaliganj and Bhitorband unions of the upazila this season.
The booming banana cultivation on char lands has become a profitable venture turning char areas into scattered banana gardens.
The field level DAE officials are extending assisting char people to expand cultivation of ‘Meher Sagar’, ‘Sobri’ and other varieties of banana on char lands those remained fallow for decades.
With the DAE assistance, char people for the first time have cultivated banana on an exhibition plot of one bigha of land in Damalgram village of Raiganj union in Nageshwari upazila this year.
Talking to BSS, farmer Rafikul Islam of Bamondanga union said a group of char people led by him started cultivating banana on 25 bighas of char lands three years back.
“Excluding farming costs, we are earning Tk 0.8 million to 1.0 million annually by farming banana on 25 bighas of char lands,” he said.
Observing the success, many char people have started farming banana with vegetables and other crops in relay methods on char lands on commercial basis, Islam added.
Farmer Yusuf Ali of the same area said, another group of char people led by him, are cultivating bananas for last two years by planting over 60,000 banana saplings on 150 bighas of char lands.
“We have sold produced bananas at Taka 50 lakh last year alone and started selling 300 to 400 banana bunches daily from Baishakh this year,” he said.
Local traders and representatives of whole sellers are purchasing bananas from the char gardens and marketing those in bigger towns and cities to meet nourishment of the population.
Farmer Lokman Hossain said char people are selling bananas in one side of char lands and cultivating banana afresh on the other side on vacant lands.
The process of formation and growth of new banana bunches continues all the time giving the gardens fresh looks.
“Many char families have become dependent on cultivating bananas on sandy char lands now to become self-reliant,” said Hossain, reports BSS.
Talking to BSS, Nageswari Upazila Agriculture Officer Agriculturist Mohammad Shamsuzzaman said banana cultivation on char lands on both sides of the Dudhkumar is largely contributing to socio-economic development of char families.
“We are assisting char people and providing latest technologies for expanded cultivation of banana as a profitable cash crop on char lands to improve their living standard,” Shamsuzzaman added.
Deputy Director of the DAE at its regional office here Agriculturist Md. Moniruzzaman said cultivation of banana along with vegetables in relay methods on sandy char lands is becoming popular among char people to change their fortune in riverine areas.