Sugarcane growers of Gobindaganj upazila in the district and some areas of neighbouring Borga are earning better profit by farming HYV sugarcane Q-69 that is used for making juice and directly chewing.

Earlier, people of those areas cultivated inferior quality of sugarcane just for supplying to Rangpur Sugar Mills at Mohimaganj for low price.

Besides, the land remained occupied by sugarcane almost round the year, leaving no scope for cultivation of any other crop.

But Q-69 variety of sugarcane requires only six to seven months from planting to harvesting, so the farmers get the opportunity to grow additional crops, said growers.

Sugarcane growers of Bakchar village in Gobindaganj upazila first started farming of chewing sugarcane a decade ago and now its cultivation has spread in different areas of the upazila and Mokamtola and Mahasthan of Bogra.

It costs about Tk 20 thousand to cultivate this variety of sugarcane on one bigha of land, which brings output worth Tk 60 to 70 thousand, said Khalil Mia, a grower of Nayapara village of Gobindaganj upazila.

“The demand for chewing sugarcane sees rise in different areas, and so, we procure it from fields of Gobindaganj and carry at our own cost, said Ershadul Islam,” a sugarcane trader of Bogra.

In towns and market places vendors are often seen selling juice of Q-69 sugarcane for Tk 10 per glass.

They use mini crushing machines set on rickshaw-vans to extract juice from sugarcane.

Physicians, however, discourage taking such sugarcane juice from roadside mobile shops as it is prepared in dirty conditions where dust, flies and other insects make the item unhygienic.

Shahera Banu, upazila agriculture officer of Gobindaganj, said soil of the area is suitable for Q-69 sugarcane growing and the agriculture department extends all possible help for increasing its cultivation.

This year 17 hectares of land has been brought under its cultivation in the upazila.