Peanut farmers in Ishwardi have suffered a huge loss as the plants have been totally damaged by the severe heat wave.
Farmers said they will not get a single taka back from the cropland this time. Sources in the local agriculture department said farmers in Ishwardi usually cultivate peanut three times in a year. They planted seeds in their land in March and expected to harvest the crop in June. But their crop land has already been destroyed due to high temperature and lack of rain.
The temperature was between 39 to 43 degrees Celsius in Ishwardi in the month of April.
Sources in the Upazila Agriculture office said peanut is usually cultivated on 190 hectares of land in Ishwardi. Of the seven unions in the upazila, the crop has been cultivated mostly in char areas of the river Padma under Laxmikunda, Pakshi and Sara unions.
Mojnu Sardar, a farmer of Dadapur Purbapara village under Laxmikunda Union, said he cultivated peanut on 18 bighas of land this time as he got high yield and better price of the product last year. Of the land, he took lease of 13 bigha land from others. But he is now facing a huge loss.
Jojon Pramanik, another farmer, said he cultivated peanut on 18 bighas of land like the previous year. But the plants have been totally damaged due to the severe heat wave. He has spent around Tk 12,000 on each bigha of land. But he will not get a single Taka from the crop land this time.
Upazila Agriculture Officer and agriculturist Mita Sarkar said peanut cultivation is growing in Ishwardi due to the high demand of the crop. The farmers are usually making a profit but the peanut cultivation has been badly affected this time due to adverse weather condition.
