Kongkon Karmaker

The use of surface water has become the ultimate solution for irrigating croplands across the country as depleting underground reserves amid lesser rainfall and higher fuel costs have left farmers with little option.

State-owned rock producer Maddhapara Granite Mining Company Ltd (MGMCL) could not resume granite production for more than three months. The reason is a crisis of explosives, leaving the government to incur a production loss worth around Tk 1 crore per day.

North-bound trains are seeing an increase in passengers due to lack of public transport following the latest major fuel price hike in Bangladesh.

Diesel imports from Numaligarh Refinery Limited in India’s Golaghat district to an oil depot in Parbatipur upazila of Dinajpur will likely begin at the end of the year if the India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline is completed on time, according to project officials.

The government move to increase the price of diesel by a high margin has caught many farmers off guard. 

Farmers who depend on rainwaters to grow Aman paddy in Dinajpur have been left distraught from early July owing to a drought-like situation in the absence of rains. 

It’s rainy reason in Bangladesh and agricultural land is supposed to be wet with monsoon rains by now.  

Hili land port in Hakimpur upazila of Dinajpur provides ample opportunity to facilitate cross-border trade between Bangladesh and India but its potential remains largely untapped even though both governments have taken a number of initiatives to this end.

The recent floods in northern Bangladesh are now affecting farmers in five districts of the greater Rangpur region as significant amounts of land in the economically disadvantaged area have gone underwater.

The use of machinery for agriculture, particularly tilling land, harvesting crops, threshing grains and packing produce, is rising in northern districts such as Dinajpur and Rangpur as it is cheaper and more efficient compared to manual farming methods, according the Department of Agricultural Extension.

The harvesting of Haribhanga, a variety of mango native to north-western districts such as Rangpur, will begin in the once Monga-stricken region on June 20, according to officials of the local administration.

Litchi growers and traders in northern districts such as Dinajpur are expecting good profits this season following two years of pandemic-induced losses as they are getting better prices for their produce with the market having gained momentum over the past two weeks.

Farmers and entrepreneurs who rear cattle for meat and milk in the country’s northern districts are currently suffering from an abnormal hike in feed prices.

People mainly from the ethnic community of Ramchandrapur village under Kaharol upazila of Dinajpur usually spend a portion of their day catching snails in Dhepa river, which once was a significant source for edible breeds of the shelled gastropod.

With litchi season creeping ever closer, farmers in Dinajpur are spending busy days caring for their orchards in order to ensure maximum output of the mouth-watering tropical fruit, weather permitting.

Garlic farmers in the country’s northern districts have been left dismayed as the price of the highly-popular cooking ingredient has fallen at wholesale and retail levels due to a supply glut amid the ongoing peak harvesting season.

Bangladesh’s northern region has turned into a plastic recycling hub as many people in eight districts are now engaged in turning hazardous waste such as discarded PET bottles and disposable syringes back into resources for these products.

Kazi Abu Saad Chowdhury, a resident of Ghoraghat upazila in Dinajpur, has found an answer to his financial woes in the form of Vietnamese dwarf coconut trees.

The hard-rock mined by Maddhapara Granite Mining Company Limited (MGMCL) in Parbatipur upazila of Dinajpur is getting costlier for end-users as dealers are charging higher rates than that of the state-run company.

In a worrying trend, a group of farmers in northern districts are selling wheat spikes as cattle feed in order to make a higher profit since they don’t get fair prices for the final produce.