RAJSHAHI, July 8, 2018 (BSS)-Farmers are seen very much busy in their final stage Aush paddy transplantation everywhere in the region including its vast Barind tract.
They are now transplanting the late varieties developed by Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) with the hope of getting good yield.
Acreage of the paddy is gradually increasing here as diversified steps including promotion of drought tolerant but high yielding varieties and special incentives were adopted to boost its production in the region.
Jaidur Rahman, a farmer of Karnahar village under Paba Upazila, said they are facing great trouble in transplanting paddy due to shortage of rainfall. The transplantation season is passing away rapidly.
In the previous seasons, they got both better yield and price of the midterm paddy in the region. So, in spite of the rainfall scarcity problem, the enthusiastic farmers are seen very much busy in the transplantation through irrigation.
Dr Shakhawat Hossain, Senior Scientific Officer of Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute, here said BRRI released seven drought tolerant varieties and some of those have gained popularity among farmers during the last couple of years.
He 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.
The newly innovated paddy varieties have opened up a door of enormous prospects for food security along with mitigating the crises of irrigation water.
Meanwhile, some 34,750 farmers got incentives of seed, fertilizer and irrigation support for the cultivation of Aus paddy in the current Kharif-1 season in four districts in Rajshahi region.
Of the total, 31,000 farmers received incentives for cultivation of high yielding Aush on 31,000 bigha of lands while 3,750 farmers for Nerica paddy on 3,750 bigha of land.
Each of the Aush paddy farmers got five kilograms seed, 20 kilograms urea, 10 kilograms DAP, 10 kilograms MoP fertilizers and cash of Taka 500 for irrigation purpose.
On the other hand, each of 3,750 farmers got 10 kilograms seed, 20 kilograms urea, 10 kilograms DAP, 10 kilograms MoP fertilizers and Taka 500 for irrigation and Taka 500 for weeding to cultivate nerica paddy.
Mustafizur Rahman, additional director of Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), said the agricultural incentives help boosting Aush paddy production.
Agriculturist Rahman expected that around 4.37 lakh tonnes of Aush paddy will be produced on 1.75 lakh hectares of land this season. Aush transplantation is progressing fast everywhere in the region at present.