Marginal farmers in Chuadanga's Darshana Upazila area are turning to sugarcane cultivation as the government hiked the price of sugarcane. The Darshana Carew Sugar Mill Authorities has set a target of 7 thousand acres of sugarcane cultivation in the 2022-23 planting season.
According to the agriculture department of Darshana sugar mill, after the beginning of the current planting season on September 1, the farmers of the area are planting sugarcane in their respective lands with great enthusiasm. Due to the monsoon rains, sugarcane planting has not been possible for the last 4-5 days, but sugarcane planting and seedbeds have been done in about two hundred bighas of land in the last one week.
Mo Taiyab Ali, a sugarcane grower in mill zone area, said that last year the price of one maund (40 kg) of sugarcane was Tk 140, this time it has been increased to Tk 180. For this, I will cultivate sugarcane in 25 to 30 bigha land. General Manager (Agriculture) of the mill, Ashraful Alam Bhuiyan said, this year sugarcane cultivation target has been set on 1 thousand 559 acres in sugar mills and 5 thousand 541 acres in farmer's land in a total of 7 thousand acres. He said that the government has increased the price of one maund of sugarcane from Tk 140 to Tk 180 in the Millgate area and Tk 137 to Tk 176 in the outer center (centre) for the benefit of the people and the farmers. Moreover, after the commencement of the upcoming threshing season, the price will continue to increase 5 times at the rate of 5 taka per quintal every 15 days from 15th January. If it is a foundation or registered seed farm, then the seed sugarcane price has been increased by Tk 10 instead of Tk 8 per quintal of eligible sugarcane.
He said that last year in Carew's own land, sugarcane was 1,500 acres, and the farmer's sugarcane was 4,230 acres. Which compared to last year, the target of sugarcane cultivation has been determined in about 2 thousand acres of land this year.
Abdul Hannan, President of Mill Akchashi Welfare Association and General Secretary A Bari said that the price of sugarcane has increased to some extent, for which sugarcane cultivation will increase, but the price of sugarcane needs to be increased by increasing the selling price of sugar.
General Manager (Administration) of the sugar mill, Sheikh Shahab Uddin, said, "We have emphasized on cultivation of improved varieties and sugar-rich sugarcane." So that both the farmer and the mill can benefit.
Managing director of the sugar mill Mosharof Hossain said that the increase in the price of sugarcane has already received a lot of response from the sugarcane farmers and the preparation of sugarcane seed beds has increased. It is expected that we will be able to fulfill the target set by Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation this year.
