RANGPUR, Dec 19, 2020 (BSS) – Farmers of Rangpur agriculture region have begun transplantation of Boro rice seedlings in all five districts to make the farming of crops successful during the current Rabi season.
Officials of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) said the government is assisting farmers to make the intensive Boro rice farming programme successful and recoup the huge crop losses incurred during the recent floods.
Meanwhile, farmers have already transplanted Boro rice seedlings on 600 hectares of land as the process will get full momentum by the end of January in the region.
The farmers have already prepared Boro rice seedbeds on 21,890 hectares of land against the fixed target of crops on 22,895 hectares of land across the region.
“A target of producing over 21.54 lakh tonnes of clean Boro rice (32.31 lakh tonnes of paddy) has been fixed from 4.95 lakh hectares of land for the region this season,” Deputy Director of the DAE at its regional office Md Moniruzzaman told BSS today.
Farmers will produce 9.20 lakh tonnes of hybrid variety Boro rice from 1.90 lakh hectares of land, 12.31 lakh tonnes of high yielding variety rice from 3.03 lakh hectares and 3,045 tonnes of local variety Boro rice from 1,500 hectares of land.
The district-wise breakup of the fixed Boro rice production target stands at 5.57 lakh tonnes of clean rice from 1.30 lakh hectares of land for Rangpur and 5.46 lakh tonnes of rice from 1.93 lakh hectares of land for Gaibandha districts.
Besides, 4.79 lakh tonnes of clean Boro rice will be produced from 1.12 lakh hectares of land in Kurigram, 2.07 lakh tonnes of rice from 1.18 lakh hectares of land in Lalmonirhat and 3.64 lakh tonnes of rice from 1.87 lakh hectares of land in Nilphamari districts.
“The DAE and other agri-related organisations, Power Development Board and Rural Electrification Board are ensuring smooth supply of seeds, fertilisers and electricity to farmers to ensure smooth Boro rice cultivation this season,” Moniruzzaman said.
Besides, farmers are adopting conservation agriculture technologies like – Alternate Drying and Wetting irrigation method at a larger scale while farming Boro rice to save irrigation water for increasing rice output at reduced costs in the region.
Talking to BSS, farmer Ariful Haque Batul of village Najirdigar in Rangpur Sadar upazila said he has taken all preparations to cultivate Boro rice on his 6.50 acres of land this season to recoup the crop losses caused by recent floods to his Aman rice crop.
Similarly, farmers Mokhlesur Rahman, Abdul Awal, Manik Mian and Echhahaq Ali of different villages in Rangpur said their Boro rice seedlings were ready to complete the transplantation process by the next two weeks.
Talking to BSS, Agriculturist Dr Md Abdul Mazid, who got the Independence Medal 2018 (food security), suggested farmers to complete transplantation of Boro rice seedlings by mid-February for getting maximum yield of the cereal crop.
“Adoption of conservation agriculture technologies in farming Boro rice has become a need of the time to increase its output reducing lifting of underground water, saving electricity and improving the environment,” he added.