Home ›› 09 Nov 2022 ›› Nation
Farmers in char areas and highlands of Ranpur division are happy over the bumper production of the early-yielding variety of Aman paddy this year.
Farmers of eight districts in the division have almost finished harvesting the paddy and expressed their joy and happiness over the yield.
The farmers said harvesting of the early-yielding Aman variety would be completed within the second week of November.
Azizar Rhaman, 60, a farmer from a char at Mahiskhosa union under Aditmari upazila in Lalmonirhat, cultivated the paddy on six bighas of land. He has finished harvesting from three bighas of land and the rest will be finished within a week.
“I cultivated the paddy on the same land last year, but floods damaged his half of the crops, incurring huge losses for me,” he said adding that this year he got 15 maunds of yield per bigha.
Monsur Miah, 55, a farmer at Char Parulia village under Hatibandha upazila in Lalmonirhat, said, “The Aman cultivation in the char areas was not affected by flood this year. I have started harvesting the paddy and hope to get around 130-135 maunds yield from eight bighas of land. Last year, the yield was only 60 maunds from the same land.”
He spent Tk 7,000 on average for cultivating per bigha of land and one maund of paddy sells at Tk 900-1,000 in the local markets.
Masiur Rhaman, 45, a farmer of Srirampur village under Rangpur Sadar upazila, cultivated the early-yielding variety BINA on five acres of land and has got sixty maunds paddy from per acre.
Farm labourer Aziz Miah, 50, of Dhusmara Char said, “The labourers used to suffer from the lack of work from late September to mid-November. But the cultivation of the early-yielding variety of Aman in the region has changed the scenario creating job opportunities for farm labourers.”
He added that workers get Tk 500 per day from working on the harvest.
The Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) has set a target of producing 18,07,916 tonnes of husked Aman rice (27,11,874 tonnes of paddy) on 6,15,685 hectares of land in Rangpur, Gaibandha, Kurigram, Lalmonirhat, and Nilphamari districts in the region this season.
“Despite the drought-like situation, farmers have succeeded in surpassing the target, cultivating Aman paddies on 6,15,994 hectares of land. The early-yielding variety was cultivated on around 40 per cent of the lands,” said agriculturist Md Emdad Hossain Sheikh, additional director of DAE Rangpur region.
The department has supported the farmers by providing high-quality seeds and seedlings, he said.
“There are some 120 chars in river basin areas under Rangpur, Kurigram, Lalmonirhat, Gaibandha, and Nilphamari districts in the region. Around 80,000 hectares of land in the areas are cultivable. Of them, at least one-fourth of the lands have been brought under Aman cultivation this year,” he added.
This year, the DAE fixed a target to produce 1,10,000 tonnes of rice from the char areas of the Rangpur region.
Professor Dr Ashraful Islam, from the agricultural extension education department of Sylhet Agriculture University, said, “The high-yielding varieties of BRRI-75, BRRI-87, and BRRI-90, introduced by Bangladesh Rice Research Institute, generated employment for the vulnerable group of farm labourers in the Rangpur region during the lean period. The varieties can be harvested within 105 days while the traditional varieties of paddy take 130-135 days.”
Dr Mohammad Ali, officer-in-charge of Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture in Rangpur, said, “We encouraged the farmers of eight districts of Rangpur division to cultivate BINA-17 variety on 23,940 hectares of land this year. The climate-resilient and high-yielding variety need less water and fertiliser for farming. The farmers have almost finished the harvesting which began in the first week of October last.”
