Awareness of health hazards has put farmers in Rangpur off farming tobacco, though it was profitable, leading to the drop of acreage by almost one-third last year from that in 2012-13.
According to statistics of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), Rangpur, tobacco was cultivated on around 4,500 hectares of land in 2012-13, which was the highest ever in the district. But then the acreage of tobacco has declined as farmers have been gradually switching to other crops despite challenges.
Tobacco farming began spreading in Rangpur after 1971. It is now produced in Rangpur sadar, Haragachh, Taraganj and Gangachhara upazilas.
Sixty-year-old Mozammel Hossain, of South Zigagari village in Taraganj upazila, started cutting down on his tobacco farming area two years ago. Three years back he cultivated tobacco on two acres of land that has been reduced to just 33 decimals this year.
They feel sick after long hours in tobacco fields, Mozammel said, which was why he decided to grow any crop but tobacco.
Like him, many other farmers decided to switch to other crops from tobacco.
In 2013-14, the acreage of tobacco in Rangpur dropped to 2,522 hectares, the next year to 2,130 hectares and then to 1,595 hectares in 2015-16.
Abdul Zalil, aged 32, of Lalchandpur village in Rangpur sadar, stopped farming tobacco altogether in 2014 when he realised that its smell was affecting his family members.
Ayub Ali, another farmer of the same village, suffered huge loss this year as he tried for the first time to grow potato, other than tobacco, on his 50 decimals of land. His potato field was damaged by late blight, deadly fungal disease of potato plant.
But still he will not go back to tobacco farming because of the risks it poses to public health, Ayub said.
Even two or three years back, vast areas of tobacco fields could be seen on both sides of the highway from Dhaka to Rangpur of Dinajpur but now other crops have occupied portions of them, said Aminul Islam, a schoolteacher of Rangpur, who frequently visit Dinajpur by his motorcycle.