Minister predicts 22.5m tonnes Boro production in FY23

Agriculture minister Abdur Razzaque has predicted 22.5 million tonnes of Boro production in fiscal year 2022-23, up by 1 million tonnes than the target set by the government.

He made the prediction at a press brief held at the conference room of the agriculture ministry on Sunday.

“In FY23, the target of Boro cultivation was set at 49.76 lakh hectares of land. The farmers cultivated the staple crop on around 50 lakh hectares of land. The production target was set at 21.5 million tonnes. I expect the production will exceed by 1 million tonnes,” the minister said.

This year the condition of paddy cultivation was favourable in the fields and the farmers were harvesting this crop in haor areas without any hassle. Till now, 90 per cent paddy in haor areas has been harvested, he mentioned.

He said, “Mechanisation has reduced the time and cost of harvesting. The government is providing 70 per cent subsidy for agri-machinery in haor areas which helped overcome the shortage of labour.” Razzaque expressed his satisfaction over the prices of paddy. “Currently, farmers are selling paddy at Tk900-1,200 from the fields.”

Some 4.52 lakh hectares of land were cultivated in haor areas of Sylhet, Moulvibazar, Habiganj, Sunamganj, Kishoreganj, Netrakona and Brahmanbaria districts. And in total, both haor and outside, 9.53 lakh hectares of land were cultivated in these seven districts. The production target from these seven districts is 4 million tonnes.