ZCZC
BSS-43
BORO-HARVESTING-RAZZAQUE
90 pc Boro paddy harvested in haor areas: Razzaque
DHAKA, May 5, 2020 (BSS) – Agriculture Minister Dr Mohammad Abdur
Razzaque, MP, today said the farmers in the meantime harvested 90 percent
Boro paddy in haor areas while some 25 percent were harvested throughout the
country.
“Some 90 percent Boro paddy in haor areas and 25 percent across the
country have been harvested . . . And the farmers would be able to harvest
rest of the 10 percent paddy by this week,” he told a virtual view-exchange-
meeting with the journalists from his Bangladesh Secretariat office this
afternoon.
The minister expressed the hope that the farmers can harvest cent percent
paddy within June next, adding that the paddy harvesting is becoming late in
haor areas as the BRRI-29 (165-day lifelong) type of paddy were cultivated
there.
During the media briefing, he informed the journalists about different
strategies and government’s directivities to tackle ongoing challenge of
pandemic Covid-19 outbreak coincided with the global crisis.
The agriculture minister thanked local representatives, local
administrations, district police, all concerned of health department and
agriculture department at district, upazila and union levels.
He also thanked different socio-cultural organizations, political parties,
including Krishak League and Bangladesh Chhatra League, students and teachers
of schools and colleges, to help the farmers harvest their paddy.
Dr Razzaque mentioned that the farmers cultivated Boro rice on 47, 54,447
hectors of land this year across the country and the paddy of some 11, 88,611
hectors of land was harvested in the meantime which is 25 percent of the
total cultivatable land.
Giving a salient feature of the Boro paddy harvested in seven districts of
the haor areas – Kishoreganj, Netrakona, Sunamganj, Moulvibazar, Habiganj,
Sylhet and Brahmanbaria, he said the farmers harvested the paddy of 4,964
hectares out of 4,45,399 hectares of land in the haor region which is the
total 90.02 percent of arable haor lands.
Dr Razzaque, also ruling Awami League presidium member, added that about
3, 50,500 paddy-cutting labours were engaged to cut the paddy at haor
districts and they are cutting paddy by maintaining the health rules and
government’s directives for ensuring social distancing.
Earlier, the government has taken a safety measure keeping in mind the
fatal Coronavirus outbreak and distributed necessary masks, sanitizers, soaps
and lungies to the paddy-harvesting workers.
Agriculture Secretary Mohammad Nasiruddin and other senior officials
concerned, among others, were present there.
BSS/pr-SIR/KU/2055 HRS