Grass cultivation can be a moneyspinner
A woman farmer nurses Sweet Jumbo variety of grass at her field in South Nawabash village of Kurigram Sadar upazila that now sees profitable farming of the item used as favourite food for cattle. Photo: STAR
Commercially viable grass cultivation has begun in Pachgachi union under Sadar upazila of Kurigram district. Two varieties of grass -- Sweet Jamboo and Leapire -- are cultivated at low cost while the profit margin is satisfactory. In char areas of Kurigram, cultivation of Sweet Jamboo is gaining rapid popularity. Sweet Jamboo is grown from seed while Leapire from cuttings. The seed and cuttings are sown in October and November when the floodwater recedes. Cattle and buffalos prefer to eat Sweet Jamboos. When fed with this fodder mixed with hay they said to yield more quality milk. The grass is bought by farm owners of Bogra Dadhi Bhander, Testy Niketan as well as local farms in and around Kurigram. The price varies from Tk 2.50 to Tk 4/- per kilogram. A farmer can harvest 165kg to 200kg from one bigha of land. While visiting char village South Nawabash under Sadar upazila this correspondent found Sweet Jamboo cultivated on vast patches of land. Saifur Rahman Sarker, 45, a grass farmer, told this correspondent that he planted the two variety of grasses on one acre of sandy land in November last year. According to Saifur, he harvested 2,200 kg of grass from his grassland. Of these, 1,600 kg were sold at Tk 2.50 per kilogram earning about Tk 4,000 in February. In March, he sold another lot of 2,040 kg of grass at Tk 3 per kilogram for Tk 6,120. Thus Saifur earned Tk 10,120 from one acre in the last two months. "In previous times, I cultivated Dhaincha (fuel wood) and sugarcane, but it was not profitable. Grass cultivation is suitable for the sandy char land. Agriculturist Lutful Kabir and Project Organiser Hasna Banu Hasu of a local NGO Zibika assisted us with various advices on the grass cultivation", he said. Many have benefited from cultivation of grass. The grass growers said they can harvest up to eight times before the onset of flood. "The green grass is very helpful for cows. In the dry season, as there is no green pasture around, these green grasses are of great help to the cattle farm owners", said Alam Haider, owner of Testy Niketan. Director of the NGO, Manik Chowdhury, said they took up the project of grass cultivation in South Nawabash, a char village under Sadar upazila of the district, to generate alternative source of income. The project started in 2006 with the poor people in the area having small pieces of land, has now become a commercially profitable venture for anybody, he said.
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