Boro paddy harvesting has been started already in Tangail this season. The farmers of the upazilas of the district where early varieties of paddy have been planted have started harvesting from the day before Eid. As the weather being favorable and the paddy was not affected by disease, the yield is shown good. Farmers are happy with good yield. They said that harvesting of early varieties of paddy has started now, but by next week, harvesting will start in full swing. In the meantime, about five percent of the cultivated paddy has been harvested, informed by Agriculture Department.
In the current season, the farmers of the district cultivate Boro paddy by ploughing. As a result of uninterrupted power supply, the farmers got adequate supply of water in the paddy-land by right time. Besides, the officials of the agriculture office provided valuable advices to the farmers by field-level visit. Moreover, the farmers did not face much harassment speed to get enough fertilizer. As well as, the weather conditions were favorable that made Boro rice yielded well everywhere. So, smile appeared on the face of the farmers.
Majid Mia, a farmer of Dhalapara union, said that, he cultivated high-yielding varieties of rice this season on 10 bighas of his lands. In this season, everything including fertilizers, seeds, pesticides and diesel are available. But as the price is a little higher, the cost of cultivation has also increased. Compared to the last few years, this time his land produced better quality of rice. However, due to the attack of blast disease in some lands, there has been some damages. So far he has harvested 2 bighas of paddy early. He said that he will be benefitted if the weather is favorable and he can finish harvesting the paddy timely.
Kurban Ali, Farmer of Taltala village of Laxinder Union said, “I have cultivated Boro paddy on 4 bigha of land this season after working hard day and night in the sun and rain. Due to timely availability of water, seeds, fertilizers and proper care of the land, the yield of rice has been good. 1 bigha of land has been harvested already. Harvesting of the remaining paddy will be completed in the next few days.”
According to the Tangail District Agricultural Extension Department, the target of Boro paddy cultivation has been set at 1 lakh 72 thousands 600 hectares of land in the district this year while 1 lakh 75 thousand 200 hectares of lands have been cultivated. So, 2 thousands and 600 hectares of land have been cultivated more against the target.
According to the Agriculture Department, various initiatives have been taken to increase the production of rice this year comparatively to previous year. Among them, high-yielding and disease-resistant rice seeds are provided. Several high-yielding paddies have been cultivated this year including Bree-88, Bree-89, Bree-92 and Bree-100. Apart from this, a new variety of Bina 25 with aroma similar to Basmati rice has also been cultivated.
The department of agriculture also confirmed that 88 thousands farmers have been given incentives for rice cultivation this year to keep the production normal. Among them, 48 thousands farmers were given 2 kg of high-yielding rice seeds and 40,000 farmers have been given 5 kg of Boro paddy seeds, 10 kg of DAP and 10 kg of MOP fertilizer as well.
Ahsanul Basar, Deputy Director of Tangail District Agricultural Extension Department said, "We have prioritized high-yielding varieties this year to increase rice production. Along with that, due to the decrease in the production of some previous varieties of rice and the low yield due to low disease resistance, we have given new varieties of seeds to the farmers instead of those varieties. The results are found in reality. Paddy has been cultivated in more lands than the target. And due to cultivation of high-yielding rice, the yield has also improved. Although the target of 760 thousands metric tons of rice production has been set this year, the production is expected to be more than that.