GAIBANDHA, Jan 31, 2021 (BSS) – Farming of Boro paddy, a high crop, has been progressing fast in all the seven upazilas in the district since the first week of the current month during the current season amid much enthusiasm to the farmers.
Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) office sources said the department has set a target to bring a total of 1, 25, 500 hectares of land under the Boro cultivation this year with the production target of 5,47,095 metric tons of clean rice.
Of the total, some 20,611hectares of land were brought Boro farming in Sadar upazila, 15,656 in Sadullapur upazila, 12, 642 in Palashbari upazila, 29,583 in Gobindaganj upazila, 25,867 in Sundarganj upazila, 13,612 in Shaghata upazila and 7529 in Fulchhari upazila of the district.
Now, the farmers are passing their busy times with transplanting the boro seedlings after raising those from the seedbed with the hopes of getting desired output against the crop, said Al Mahmud Sarker, a farmer of Barobaldia village under Sadar upazila.
To bring the land under cultivation programme, the farmers prepared seed beds on 7500 hectares of low land where the seedlings have grown well.
To make the cultivation a grand success, necessary measures have been taken to supply fertilizers, insecticides, electricity and other agri inputs to the farmers at fair prices side by side ensuring irrigation facility, said an official of DAE.
Besides, the department is conducting training for the farmers in field level so they could boost production of the crop, said district training officer of DAE Sahera Banu.
Apart from this, the commercial and scheduled banks have taken initiatives to disburse loans to the farmers here on easy terms to help them cultivate the crop without economical troubles, said Quamruzzaman Zia, manager of Sonali Bank Limited, Sadullapur Branch of the district.
Talking to the BSS, deputy director (DD) of DAE here agriculturist Masudur Rahman said the farmers were advised to transplant the raised seedlings of the boro paddy on their respective land as per the suggestions of the field level sub assistant agriculture officers.
In reply to a question, the DD said over 84 percent transplantation of seedlings of boro farming had already been completed in the district and it would continue till March 15.