CUMILLA, Aug 25, 2023 (BSS) - The farmers of the Debidwar upazila of the district are happy with the bumper production of the new rice variety BRRI-98 this year of the Aush season.

According to the Agriculture Office sources, this year the new variety BRRI-98 has been cultivated experimentally on 1050 hectares of land in the upazila. As a result of expansion of BRRI-98, about 941 tonnes of additional paddy will be produced with a market value of Taka 2.58 crore.

"The new variety BRRI-98 took 40-60 days less time compared to earlier varieties, paving the way for quadruple crop cultivation in a year", Agriculture Office sources said.

The upazila agriculture officials started encouraged the farmers to cultivate BRRI-98 before the start of Aush season. Later, they also ensured availability of seeds in various markets through BADC seed dealers. With the advice and support of local agricultural assistants, the farmers bought BRRI-98 seeds and started making seedbeds.

Farmers of the upazila have started harvesting BRRI-98 from their filed. The yield is 18 to 20 maunds per bigha of land. On the other hand, the popular variety BRRI-48 of Aush season is getting a maximum yield of 14 to 15 maunds per bigha of land, Agriculture Officer Agriculturist Banin Roy said.

Last year, experimental cultivation of BRRI-98 took place on only 2 hectares of land in three villages of the upazila. This season BRRI-98 has been cultivated in most of the lands in Mohanpur union of the upazila.

Farmers of the upazila Gholam Mostafa, Abdus Samad and Abul Kalam cultivated new variety BRRI-98 for the first time. They said as the rice is fine, the price will be good. The price will be at least Taka 50 to 100 more per maund than BRRI-48 depending on the quality of paddy.

Deputy Assistant Agriculture Officer of Mohanpur union Block Md Sultan Ahmed said BRRI-98 was not cultivated in Mohanpur union before this. At the beginning of the season, they started working on the variety as part of the programme to increase the production of the Aush crop.

"In Mohanpur union, there is no opportunity to increase the land of Aush. So, I have focused on increasing the production by changing the variety," he added.

Agriculture Officer Agriculturist Banin Roy said as part of the plan to increase the yield and production of Aush through variety change, he started working after joining Debidwar upazila.

BRRIdhan-98 is going to be a mega variety of Aush season in the upazila in future, he said.