RAJSHAHI, Dec 1, 2020 (BSS)- Aman paddy harvesting is on the final stage in the division amidst bumper yield making the farmers with a huge gasp of delight.
The paddy harvesting has not only generated scopes of ensuring food security but also created job opportunities for many people amid the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
High officials and researchers of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) and the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) were seen witnessing crop cutting and sample collection programmes at different areas to assess the yield of the newly released varieties.
Suitable climate conditions along with frequent rainfall during all the time of farming season unleashed the hope of getting desired production of T-aman paddy, concerned people said.
Meanwhile, Aman paddy transplantation has exceeded the target in Rajshahi division despite the adverse impacts of both the Covid-19 pandemic and the flood, creating scopes of producing additional yield of the food grain.
The DAE has set the target of producing around 22.19 lakh tonnes of Aman rice from around 7.66 lakh hectares of land in all eight districts under the division during the current season.
But, amazingly, the enthusiastic farmers have brought more than 7.77 lakh hectares of land exceeding the target by 11,540 hectares braving the current pandemic and disastrous situations.
Sirajul Islam, additional director of the DAE, said the farmers are happy after pulling in a good yield of transplanted Aman in the region.
He said the paddy farming has exceeded the target here significantly due to favorable weather along with frequent rainfall that contributed a lot towards successful completion of Aman seedlings transplantation on time.
Nazmul Hossain, 47, a farmer of Gohomabona village under Paba upazila, said he has got around six tonnes yield of Brri Dhan-75 variety per hectares of land this season.
Another farmer Jahangir Alam, 54, of Bhujail village under Nachole upazila has achieved yield from 5.5 to six tonnes of Brri Dhan-51 per hectare on an average.
Measures with initiative of both public and private sectors were taken to ensure supplementary irrigation to the paddy fields from the surface water resources if needed.
Alam said farmers face a great water crisis in panicle initiation and pre-ripening stages of the farming that needs supplementary irrigation on an urgent basis due to rain-less conditions almost every year.
But, fortunately, the farmers didn’t face any adverse situation. Surface water resources were also enriched through excavating a canal to ensure supplementary irrigation to transplanted Aman paddy, over 40,000 hectares of land in high Barind tract, said Jahangir Alam Khan, coordinator of Integrated Water Resource Management project.
Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) has released seven modern paddy varieties of the Aman paddy for the welfare of common farmers in the region particularly in its vast Barind tract, said Dr Fazlul Islam, principal scientific officer of BRRI. The varieties are comparatively high yielding, drought tolerant and short duration than local variety ‘Swarna’ which is prone to various diseases and insects always affect the paddy.
Dr Islam said farmers have been encouraged to cultivate the latest varieties through various interventions including block demonstration, plots projection and supplying of seed free of cost.
He also said the modern varieties have opened up doors in enormous prospects of food security along with mitigating the crises of irrigation water.
Parija and Swarna varieties are being replaced by some of the developed varieties that can boost the Aman output, Dr Islam also mentioned.