6.95 lakh tonnes of Aush rice likely to be produced in Rajshahi division

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RAJSHAHI, June 3, 2020 (BSS) – Above 6.95 lakh tonnes of Aush rice is
expected to be produced from 2.50 lakh hectares of land in Rajshahi division
during the current season.

Amidst this glowing climatic condition, the farmers in general are now
passing their busiest time in various works like seedlings from seedbeds,
seedling transplantation and land preparation to make those fit for the
transplantation everywhere in the region including its vast Barind tract.

Official sources in the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) said the
transplantation activities have created job opportunities for many of the idle
people in all eight districts of the division amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Target has been set to produce 5.01 lakh tonnes of rice from 1.80 lakh
hectares of land in Rajshahi, Naogaon, Chapainawabgonj and Natore districts
under Rajshahi Agricultural Zone while another 1.93 lakh tonnes from 69,998
hectares in Bogura, Joypurhat, Pabna and Sirajgonj districts under Bogura
zone.

Sudhendra Nath Roy, Additional Director of DAE, said 54,465 small and
marginal farmers got seed and fertilizer as incentives for boosting the
production of Aus rice in the current Kharif-1 season in the division.

Each of the beneficiary farmers was given five kilograms of high yielding
seed, 20 kilograms of diammonium phosphate and 10 kilograms of muriate of
potash fertilizers for aush paddy cultivation on one bigha of land each free
of cost under the government’s agricultural incentive programme.

Agriculturist Sudhendra Roy said the agricultural incentives will help boost
aush paddy production as the country’s total production will be enhanced as
the government has attached highest priority to the agriculture sector to cope
with the present pandemic situation.

He said the aush farming is very much cost effective as it requires less
production cost and faces less natural calamity.

On the other hand, some new paddy varieties released by Bangladesh Rice
Research Institute (BRRI) have opened up a door of enormous prospects of
boosting aush rice through mitigating the crises of irrigation water in the
division.

BRRI Chief Scientific Officer Dr Aminul Islam said some of the released
varieties including the BRRIdhan-48 have gained popularity among farmers in
the Barind tract during the last couple of years.

BRRIdhan-48, a short duration and drought tolerant paddy variety for the
Aush season, has been giving satisfactory yield with scanty rainfall and
limited irrigation in the area.

“I got 22 mounds of paddy per bigha through cultivating the variety on seven
bighas of land last year,” said Shafiul Alam, 39, a farmer of Matikata village
under Godagari upazila in the district.

He, however, could get hardly 10 mounds of paddy per bigha if he cultivates
Parija, a conventional variety of the region.

Sabiar Rahman, 58, another farmer of Pirijpur village under the same
upazila, expressed his happiness over cultivating the variety saying its
average yield is from 15 to 23 mounds per bigha.

He mentioned that the conventional parija variety is being replaced by the
new variety which is a good sign for the region in terms of boosting yield.

By virtue of early harvesting characteristics the variety supplements the
farming of transplanted Aman and various Rabi crops like tomato, brinjal,
mustard and vegetables as the region is conventionally famous for farming
these crops abundantly.

The farmers are seen being interested for cultivating the newly developed
variety in the vast Barind tract as part of their effort to adapt with the
adverse impacts of climate change.

Dr Aminul Islam said there has been an enormous prospect of bringing
harvesting intensity coupled with increasing food production through a
successful promotion of the developed varieties.

To maintain sound soil health, it could be advisable to grow rice using a
different system in order to improve compatibility between monsoon rice and
upland winter crops.

Simultaneously, the DAE has set the target of producing 75,461 tonnes of
direct seeded aman rice from 78,000 hectares of land in the flood-prone and
wetland areas and the seed sowing is going on for the crop in the division at
present.

The direct seeded farming process reduces 45 to 50 percent production cost
than the conventional system.