Farmers have started seedlings transplantation of Irri-boro paddy of the current season amidst suitable climatic condition everywhere in all eight districts under Rajshahi division, reports BSS. Nurul Amin Siddiqui, a farmer of Karnahar village under Paba upazila in the district, said he will cultivate the paddy on five bighas of land this season. Farmers of the area are now very busy in seedling transplantation and land preparations at present, he added.
Amin Siddique said the climatic condition is so far good and the farmers have started their seedling transplantation in full-swing taking advantage of the favourable weather. Lokman Hossain, another farmer in Mohadevpur upazila, said he has already transplanted seedlings on two bighas of land this season and he will transplant the same on six more bighas within a shortest possible time.
Abul Kashem, a farmer of Mayamari village under Niamatpur upazila, said he had made seedbeds on 25 decimals of land for cultivating paddy on 18 bighas of land this season. He is now very much glad of starting the transplantation of seedlings. Meanwhile, Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) has set target of producing around 34.30 lakh tonnes of Irri-boro rice from 8.08 lakh hectares of land in all eight districts under the division during the current season.
Deb Dulal Dhali, Additional Director of DAE, said target has been set to produce 31.57 lakh tonnes of high yielding varieties rice from 7.51 lakh hectares, 2.65 lakh tonnes of hybrid varieties of rice from 52,910 hectares and 7,729 tonnes of local varieties of rice from 3,840 hectares of land.
He said steps have been taken to ensure smooth Boro rice cultivation this season. The farming is going on in full swing across the region as they are optimistic of harvesting the crop early.
Regional office of Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) has taken diversified steps including farmers training, projection plot and supplying of the newly developed high yielding varieties among the growers to make the irri-boro farming a total success.
BRRI has developed 14 Boro varieties of paddy which are appropriate for Rajshahi region including its vast Barind tract, said Dr Aminul Islam, Chief Scientific Officer of BRRI. Of those, Brridhan50 is export-oriented premium quality rice, Brridhan58 is comparatively high yielding and Brridhan84 is iron and zinc-enriched, he added.
Dr Islam said the field level agriculture related officials, researchers and scientists are reaching the developed varieties to the farmers’ doorsteps so that they can boost the boro paddy yield after the best uses of the varieties. The conventional varieties are being replaced by modern varieties which are good signs for the region in terms of boosting yield, he said.
Dr Aminul Islam said there is no way but to enhance the rice production through facing the existing challenges of adverse impact of climate change side by side with gradually declining of resources and agriculture manpower.
Abdullah Heel Kafi, Regional Agriculture Information Officer, said the DAE and other agriculture-related organisations, Barind Multipurpose Development Authority, Power Development Board and Rural Electrification Board are ensuring irrigation, smooth supply of seed, fertilisers and electricity to the farmers to ensure smooth Boro paddy cultivation.
Kafi expected that the farmers would largely adopt conservation agriculture technologies in farming Boro paddy to increase its output reducing lifting of underground water, saving electricity and improving the environment.
He added that the farmers were imparted training on how to adopt conservation agriculture technologies like Alternate Drying and Wetting irrigation method at a larger scale while farming Boro paddy to save irrigation water for increasing Boro paddy output at reduced costs.