NAOGAON, Feb 18: Cultivation of potato on the dried-up riverbeds and char lands is gradually increasing in the district.
According to the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) sources, the poor and landless char farmers have brought over 500 hectares of land under the farming of potato.
As in the previous years, they mostly cultivated potatoes of Cardinal, Diamond, and local Shaita, Lal Pakri and Shada Pakri varieties this season, the sources added.
One Asadul Haque of Enayetpur village adjacent to the river Chhoto Jamuma in Badalgachi upazila said once the char land remains under water round the year. Peasants have been cultivating potatoes on dried-up char land for the last few years.
Juel Hossain of the same area informed farming crops on char land needs less ploughing, fertilizers and pesticides.
Cultivating potato on char areas costs only Tk 9,000 to Tk 10,000 per bigha which is less than the cultivation costs for plain land, he added.
Acting deputy director of Naogaon DAE Masudur Rahman said suggestions and support from the agriculture office and government incentives helped increase the potato cultivation in the char areas.
Riverside and char people are improving their livelihoods through proper use of the lands, he added.
