MANIKGANJ, May 23, 2020 (BSS) – To modernize and mechanize the agriculture sector, the government has distributed, through Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), 41 combined harvesters among the farmers of the seven upazilas of the district for easy and short-time harvesting of their main crop, Boro paddy.
DAE Deputy Director Md. Shahjahan Ali Biswas said, “The government, through the DAE, is distributing the combined harvester machines at a subsidized rate of Taka 14 lakh per unit against the actual price of Taka 28 lakh”.
The farmers, their groups or local service providers can purchase the combined harvester machines at 50 percent subsidized rates for harvesting their own cultivated paddy and providing the same services at reduced costs to their fellow farmers.
“A farmer can harvest and clean Boro paddy of one acre of land using a combined harvester machine in an hour spending Taka 3,000,” he said, adding that a farmer spends Taka 6,000 for the same purpose on one acre of land by engaging labourers.
The sources said most of the combined harvesters were distributed informally among the farmers while a few of them were distributed formally.
Momtaj Begum, MP from Manikganj-2 constituency, handed over one combined harvester to a farmer at Singair upazila of the district as the chief guest, while S M Ferdous, deputy commissioner (DC) of Manikganj, handed another combined harvester to a farmer at Manikganj as the chief guest.
The chief guest urged the farmers to use the combined harvester machines in harvesting their own cultivated paddy and providing the same services to other farmers to face labour-shortage and reduce the harvesting cost of Boro paddy by 50 percent.