Farmers in the district have made good profit from green chillies of the Balizuri variety this year.

 Favourable weather, low labour costs and use of the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) method, instead of harmful pesticides, have helped farmers to do good business.  

 Farmer Zahurul Haque of Shingvanga village in Islampur upazila cultivated the Balizuri variety of green chillies on 80 decimal of land. He got 27 maund of dried green chillies and sold them for Tk. 1,62,000. He said the production cost was Tk. 32,000 and the net profit was Tk.1,30,000.

 According to sources in the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), farmers in the district cultivated green chillies on 7,135 hectares this current robi season -- 550 hectares in Jamalpur Sadar, 950 in Sarishabari, 1,200 in Melandah, 3,005 in Islampur,  290 in Dewanganj, 1,000 in Madarganj and 140 hectares in Bakshiganj.

 The production target of dried chillies was fixed at 10,346 metric tonnes.

 DAE sources said most of the farmers cultivated the Balizuri variety this year.

 In 2017-2918, farmers cultivated the Balizuri variety on 4,700 hectares in the district -- 100 hectares in Jamalpur Sadar, 650 in Sarishabari, 960 in Melandah, 1,750 in Islampur,  290 in Dewanganj and 950 hectares in Madarganj.

 Sources said farmers preserved quality seeds of Balizuri from their fields. They sow the seeds on fertile land in char areas. Farmers do not make seed beds and transplant Balizuri like other varieties. They sow seeds with light tilling. This way, they save labour costs.  The Regional Agriculture Research Station (RARS), Jamalpur, under the Competitive Research Grant (CRG) Sub Project, National Agricultural Technology Project-2 (NATP-2) motivated farmers to cultivate green chillies without using harmful pesticides at Shingvanga village, a char area of the Jamuna in the upazila.  Under the project on "survey, monitoring and eco-friendly integrated management of major insects, pests and diseases in chillies in Jamalpur region",  200 farmers cultivated green chillies on 75 bighas in Islampur upazila. The farmers sowed the local variety of Balizuri green chillie seed in their field and after applying the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) method, got good yield of chilli. Farmers used sex-pheromone trap and colour trap to kill harmful insects and pests.

 Sources said farmers use 30 to 32 types of pesticides in green chilli fields for lack of proper knowledge. This increases production costs to a great extent.

 Principal Scientific Officer, Regional Agriculture Research Station, Dr Md Abdul Mannan said Balizuri, a local variety of chilli, is suitable for cultivation in char areas.

 He said indiscriminate use of pesticides pollute crops and also kill many friendly insects. He said farmers should know how to kill harmful insects without using pesticide. The specialist also stressed soil treatment before sowing seeds to boost chilli production.