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Rangpur farmers happy with bumper maize production

BSS . Rangpur
20 Aug 2022 00:00:00 | Update: 20 Aug 2022 00:19:26
Rangpur farmers happy with bumper maize production
Farmers cultivate maize on 1,06,217 hectares of land in Rangpur – BSS Photo

Farmers have produced an all-time record quantity of over 13.39 lakh tonnes of maize during the last Rabi and just-ended Kharif-1 seasons in the Rangpur agriculture region this year.

Officials of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) and market sources said all-time record high prices of maize have made farmers very happy in all five districts of the region this year.

Like in the last Rabi season, farmers are currently selling their harvested maize during the just-ended Kharif-1 season at rates between Tk 1,100 and Tk 1,250 per maund (every 40 kg).

Last year, farmers sold their produced maize at rates between Tk 850 and Tk 950 per maund.

Officials of the DAE said farmers produced over 11.48 lakh tonnes of maize during the last Rabi season and more than 1.91 tonnes of the crop during the last Kharif-1 season in the region.

Earlier, the DAE had fixed a target of producing over 11.33 lakh tonnes of maize from 1,04,045 hectares of land for all five regional districts during the last Rabi season.

“Farmers finally cultivated maize on 1,06,217 hectares of land and produced 11.48 lakh tonnes of the crop during the last Rabi season,” Additional Director of the DAE for Rangpur region Agriculturist Md Emdad Hossain Sheikh said.

On the other hand, the DAE had fixed a target of producing over 2.21 lakh tonnes of maize from 24,600 hectares of land for the region during the last Kharif-1 season.

“However, farmers finally cultivated maize on 20,831 hectares of land and produced 1.91 lakh tonnes of the crop during the just-ended Kharif-1 season,” Hossain said.

The government provided special incentives, high-yielding varieties of maize seeds and fertilisers and the latest technologies to small, marginal and flood-hit farmers to expand maize farming during both seasons.

“Many farmers and char people have cut poverty and achieved self-reliance through maize cultivation in Rangpur, Gaibandha, Kurigram, Nilphamari and Lalmonirhat districts of the region in the last 13 years,” Hossain added.

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