Sesame farming is proving to be a winner in Lalmonirhat. With reliable profits, the crop's suitability for higher terrain and bumper harvests possible with due care, sesame has earned popularity with farmers.

"I have grown sesame on 30 decimals of high land beside my home," says Nazrul Islam, 44, of Bhelabari village in Aditmari upazila. "I hope to realise a profit of Tk 10,000 when it's sold in January, which is a better return than can be expected from other crops grown on higher land." He has been farming sesame for the past five years.

"Sesame needs organic fertiliser but no pesticides," says another grower from the same village, Nur Islam, 52. "Weeds are the main problem, so the crop needs care." Yet he hopes the sesame harvest from his 40 decimals will be even better this year than in years past.

Farmer Zahir Uddin, 50, from nearby Hazigonj village says they can produce up to 5 maunds of sesame from each bigha of land. "Each maund fetches as much as Tk 6,000 in the market," he says, "and there is never any trouble to sell it since the market is better organised than for other crops."

But for farmers like Harendra Nath Barmon, 62, from Chaklarhat village in Kaligonj upazila, commercial sesame farming is not a viable option. "The crop does best on higher land," he explains, "while in lower terrain its output is less impressive. Still we grow sesame for our family needs and sometimes there's some left over to sell." He has dedicated 50 decimals of lowland fields to sesame this year.

"Sesame has high demand from consumers nationwide," says trader Kafil Uddin, 42, based at the market in Chaparhat Bazar in Kaligonj. "As such I pay farmers in advance to purchase their crop during the season."

According to Lalmonirhat's agriculture extension department office, sesame has been sowed on 320 acres district-wide this year, up from 250 acres last year. "The district's farmers are profiting from their efforts with boutique crops like sesame," says the office's deputy director Bidubhuson Roy. "Those who own higher elevation farmland are taking advice from us about growing sesame, nuts and other suitable crops."