Noakhali

Good yield of black lentil expected

Farmers in shoal (char) areas are expecting to get a good yield of black lentil in Subarnachar upazila of Noakhali this year. As the weather is much favourable and the department of the district
agriculture has supplied high yielding varieties of gram seeds the farmers are hopeful of harvesting plenty of the variety of pulse.
 Sources at the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in Noakhali said 300 hectares (ha) of land have been earmarked for cultivation of this crop  this year to produce 900 maunds per ha.
Sources said black lentil was cultivated on around 70 ha last year and good production was recorded. Char Jabber, Char Jubilee, Char Amanullah are the main areas where the lands are fertile and a good number of farmers cultivate black lentil here. Sources said mung, mash kalai, kheshary are the variety of pulses cultivated in the upazila.
Mohan, a farmer of Char Jubilee, said the alluvial soil close to the the Meghna River is very fertile and suitable for cultivation of black lentil. He said he cultivated two hectares of land. Nearly six maunds of ‘mash kalai dal’ were produced last season. Mohan also said after meeting the needs of his family and relatives he supplied this ‘dal’ to different restaurants. He sold 70 kg black lentil at Tk 55 per kg and earned Tk 3,850. But, he spent Tk 2,200 on seeds, fertiliser, labour, irrigation, pesticides and other inputs. Noor Rahman, another farmer of Char Jabber village, said on an average, he sold per kg at Tk 40 and supplied to local Al-Amin Foods and Biscuits Factory.
But many growers said they have been deprived of fair prices due to higher transportation cost and presence of middlemen.  Middlemen come to the poor growers and offer loan without interest for four or three months. This will obviously bring a temporary relief for the farmers who are short of capital. But as soon as they harvest the crop the middlemen come back and force the helpless farmers to sell their produce to them at lower prices as repayment of loan.
On the other hand, factory owners demand dried-up pure ‘dal’. But many growers do not know how to preserve. Only factory and hotel owners pay them good prices, said farmers.
Factory owners of Dhaka and Chittagong collect ‘dal’ from middlemen. BADC also collects some dal for seeds, but it is small in quantity, they said further.
Two big restaurants at Maijdee court -- Hotel Mohammadia and Kiron -- collect dal from farmers, they added.
Experts of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) said the black lentil, locally called as ‘mash kalai dal’, is full of high protein.
When contacted, Mohinuddin Chowdhury, principal officer of BARI in Noakhali said the dal produced in char areas is high yielding variety. Now, BARI and DAE are trying to increase cultivation of black lentil on fallow lands.

Noakhali

Good yield of black lentil expected

Farmers in shoal (char) areas are expecting to get a good yield of black lentil in Subarnachar upazila of Noakhali this year. As the weather is much favourable and the department of the district agriculture has supplied high yielding varieties of gram seeds the farmers are hopeful of harvesting plenty of the variety of pulse. Sources at the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in Noakhali said 300 hectares (ha) of land have been earmarked for cultivation of this crop this year to produce 900 maunds per ha. Sources said black lentil was cultivated on around 70 ha last year and good production was recorded. Char Jabber, Char Jubilee, Char Amanullah are the main areas where the lands are fertile and a good number of farmers cultivate black lentil here. Sources said mung, mash kalai, kheshary are the variety of pulses cultivated in the upazila. Mohan, a farmer of Char Jubilee, said the alluvial soil close to the the Meghna River is very fertile and suitable for cultivation of black lentil. He said he cultivated two hectares of land. Nearly six maunds of mash kalai dal were produced last season. Mohan also said after meeting the needs of his family and relatives he supplied this dal to different restaurants. He sold 70 kg black lentil at Tk 55 per kg and earned Tk 3,850. But, he spent Tk 2,200 on seeds, fertiliser, labour, irrigation, pesticides and other inputs. Noor Rahman, another farmer of Char Jabber village, said on an average, he sold per kg at Tk 40 and supplied to local Al-Amin Foods and Biscuits Factory. But many growers said they have been deprived of fair prices due to higher transportation cost and presence of middlemen. Middlemen come to the poor growers and offer loan without interest for four or three months. This will obviously bring a temporary relief for the farmers who are short of capital. But as soon as they harvest the crop the middlemen come back and force the helpless farmers to sell their produce to them at lower prices as repayment of loan. On the other hand, factory owners demand dried-up pure dal. But many growers do not know how to preserve. Only factory and hotel owners pay them good prices, said farmers. Factory owners of Dhaka and Chittagong collect dal from middlemen. BADC also collects some dal for seeds, but it is small in quantity, they said further. Two big restaurants at Maijdee court -- Hotel Mohammadia and Kiron -- collect dal from farmers, they added. Experts of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) said the black lentil, locally called as mash kalai dal, is full of high protein. When contacted, Mohinuddin Chowdhury, principal officer of BARI in Noakhali said the dal produced in char areas is high yielding variety. Now, BARI and DAE are trying to increase cultivation of black lentil on fallow lands.