The cultivation of ginger is going on in full swing across the Nilphamari district.
According to the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) office sources, around 2150 hectares of land have been brought under ginger farming with an aim to produce 21930 tonnes of yield this season.
A large number of growers in the district have been cultivating this spicy crop following their tradition and more than 50 per cent of the country’s ginger is produced here.
Ginger is cultivated mainly in the high land where rain water does not remain stagnant. Extensive tillage of land is needed to prepare the land for ginger farming.
But the cultivation of the crop has become very risky as plants often get affected by diseases and viruses. Sometimes, these viruses damage up to 80 per cent of the land prepared for cultivating ginger.
Abdur Rahman, a farmer of Itakhola union of Nilphamari sadar upazila told FE that he planted ginger on one bigha of land spending around Tk 25,000 including the cost of tillage of land and fertiliser.
He expects to extract the ginger seeds from the soil and start selling these in market in the coming two months.
Hybrid ginger seed is currently not available in the district but the farmers have been requesting the authorities concerned to provide them virus free hybrid ginger seeds.
