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When cultivating other crops, farmers have to source the capital along with bearing the risk of being unable to market and sell their produce.

But when it comes to cassava, Pran-RFL Group, one of Bangladesh’s largest agribusiness, provides farmers with the funds to cultivate the crop, which is then bought back by the company.

So, with little personal investment, a farmer can earn about Tk 20,000 from roughly 2,500 kgs of the vegetable, said Abdus Samad, another cassava farmer in the region.

Abdul Khaleq, a cassava farmer based in Sylhet’s Habiganj district, said cassava was a hardy plant that could cope with most extreme weather conditions, making it a low risk investment.

Around 190 maunds to 250 maunds (one maund equals around 37 kgs) of cassava can be produced on one acre of land, he added.

Md Abdul Momin, an agriculture officer of Kulaura upazila, said they advise local farmers on cultivating cassava on fallow land since it saves money and does not require preparing the land for cultivation.

Lutful Bari, deputy director of the DAE office in Moulvibazar, said the profitable crop’s cultivation has seen a gradual increase throughout the district.

Kamruzzaman Kamal, marketing director of Pran-RFL Group, told The Daily Star that the company was the first to introduce contract farming for cassava in 2014.

Pran also conducts training programmes and provides financial assistance and farming elements such as seeds and fertilisers at low cost.

Farmers usually have to spend between Tk 25,000 to Tk 30,000 per acre to cultivate cassava. Pran helps deal with a large chunk of this production cost by providing seeds, a form of advance payment for the harvests, he said.

The cassava plant can play a vital role in developing the country’s agricultural sector. At its processing plant in Habiganj Industrial Park in Shaistaganj upazila, Pran processes about 60,000 tonnes of the crop each year.

Pran turns the root into starch, which is mainly used as a raw material for baked goods. However, the material is now also being widely used in the garment and pharmaceutical industries.

Pran aims to procure 30,000 tonnes of cassava from 5,000 acres of land around the country this year.

Last year, the company collected more than 19,000 tonnes from 4,750 acres of land, Kamal said.

The company plans to start collecting cassava from mid-October and harvesting will continue till March 2022, he added.

Pran cultivated cassava, either directly or through contracts, in the Rangamati, Khagrachhari, Habiganj, Moulvibazar, Tangail, Mymensingh, Jamalpur and Cumilla districts this year.

Dilip Kumar Adhikari, additional director of the DAE office in Sylhet, said cassava was a staple food in many African countries.

Cassava is a popular food in tropical regions such as Africa, where it is the third major source of sugar.

“Pran uses cassava to make their various foods and chips and for starch,” he added.