Photo: BSS

RANGPUR, Nov 19, 2025 (BSS) - The Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) has fixed a record production target of 35,54,790 tonnes of clean Boro rice (53,32,185 tonnes of paddy) from 7,80,110 hectares of land for Rangpur division in this 2025-2026 Rabi season. 
 
In the last season, farmers produced 35,47,308 tonnes of clean Boro rice (53,20,962 tonnes of paddy) from 7,80,016 hectares of land in eight districts of Rangpur, Gaibandha, Kurigram, Nilphamari, Lalmonirhat, Dinajpur, Thakurgaon and Panchagarh of the division.

Officials of the DAE’s Rangpur and Dinajpur regional offices told BSS that their field level officials and farmers have already taken steps to make the Boro farming programme a success this season. 
 
The farmers are now mostly busy with harvesting Aman rice and sowing seeds of Rabi crops like early potato, maize and winter vegetables on their lands and they will start preparing Boro seedbeds in full swing from this month-end.
 
Under the programme, the DAE has fixed a target of producing 23,08,772 tonnes of clean Boro rice (34,63,158 tonnes of paddy) from 5,09,094 hectares of land in five districts of Rangpur, Gaibandha, Kurigram, Nilphamari and Lalmonirhat in Rangpur agricultural region of the division.
 
In addition, 12,46,018 tonnes of clean Boro rice (18,69,027 tonnes of paddy) will be produced from 2,71,016 hectares of land in three districts of Dinajpur, Thakurgaon and Panchagarh in Dinajpur agricultural region of Rangpur division this season. 
 
Farmers will produce 13,95,975 tonnes of hybrid variety clean Boro rice from 2,83,539 hectares of land, 21,56,876 tonnes of high yielding variety rice from 4,95,546 hectares and 1,939 tonnes of local variety Boro rice from 1,025 hectares of land in the division.
 
Talking to BSS, Additional Deputy Director of the DAE at its regional office Md Sirajul Islam said steps have been taken to ensure smooth supply of seeds, fertilisers, electricity and delivering technologies to make the Boro farming programme a success.
 
The government is distributing high quality Boro rice seeds, Di-ammonium Phosphate (DAP) and Muriate of Potash (MoP) fertilisers among small and marginal farmers as agriculture incentives in Rangpur division this season.
 
Each of the beneficiary farmers are getting 20-kg seed of Boro rice, 20-kg DAP and 10-kg MoP fertilisers as incentives to cultivate Boro rice on one bigha of land during this Rabi season.  
 
“Farmers will adopt conservation agriculture technologies like Alternate Drying and Wetting irrigation methods on a larger scale while farming Boro rice to use less irrigation water and save electricity for reducing cultivation cost,” he added. 
 
The DAE, Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation, Bangladesh Rice Research Institute and other agri-related organisations under the Ministry of Agriculture will extend assistance to farmers to make the Boro rice farming programme successful.
 
Md Mamunur Rashid, a PhD Fellow in the Department of Agricultural Extension at Dinajpur Haji Mohammad Danesh University of Science and Technology, said farmers will start planting Boro rice seedlings in lowland and char areas from mid-December.
 
“However, the planting process of Boro rice seedlings on the mainland will gain full momentum from mid-January and continue till early March to make the intensive Boro rice cultivation programme a success," he said.