Home ›› 25 May 2023 ›› Nation
Agriculture and crop surplus region Sherpur has exceeded the target of maize cultivation in the current rabi season.
Due to the favourable weather conditions, the yield of maize has been good this year. The farmers are happy due to the low production costs as the agriculture department distributed agri-incentives at the beginning of the season.
According to the district agriculture department, the cultivation of boro paddy has decreased in Nokla upazila for several years, but on the contrary, the cultivation of maize has increased.
In the current rabi season, maize has been cultivated on 2,100 hectares of land in the upazila. Against this, the production target has been set at 21,420 tonnes.
To encourage maize cultivation, 1,500 farmers have been given free 2 kg of maize seed and 20 kg of DAP and 10 kg of MOP fertilisers as incentives.
Maize has been cultivated in nine unions including the upazila municipality. Now the harvesting and threshing of maize produced in different fields has started.
In some areas of Chandrakona union of Nokla upazila, most fields are full of ripe maize and farmers are busy with harvest. Zainal Abedin, a farmer of Bandateki village, said he has cultivated maize on about 50 decimals of land this time.
“My production cost is about Tk 10,000. Maize requires less water than wheat and boro crops and the yield is good this year. I have already harvested about 10 decimals and got a yield of 10 maunds,” he said, adding that the price of raw maize is Tk 750-800 per maund.
Department of Agricultural Extension Sherpur Deputy Director Dr Sukalpa Das said maize is known as a low-cost, high-yielding crop.
“There is a huge demand for maize in the country. Apart from its nutritional value, it is also in demand as poultry, dairy and fish feed. Apart from this, the government is giving more importance to maize cultivation to reduce the pressure on rice and wheat used as food for the people of the country,” he added.
Farmers of Nokla upazila are more motivated to cultivate maize by getting incentives from the agriculture department. The yield has also been bumper as the weather has been favourable. It is expected that the cultivation of corn in this area will increase in the future.
