6.07 lakh tonnes of Aush rice produced in Rajshahi division

Photo: BSS

Farmers have harvested around 6.07 lakh tonnes of Aush rice from around 2.03 lakh hectares of land as its harvesting process recently ended in all eight districts under Rajshahi division.

The Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) had set a target of producing around 6.43 lakh tonnes of Aush rice from 2.45 lakh hectares of land in the division.

Sirajul Islam, Additional Director of DAE, Rajshahi, said the government had adopted diversified steps including incentives and technological support to promote aush rice farming.

He said the agricultural incentives and other supports are very important towards boosting aush paddy production.

Agriculturist Islam said a total of 69,300 small and marginal farmers received seed and fertilizers as incentives worth around Taka 6.07 crore for the cultivation of Aush paddy in the current Kharif-1 season in the division.

The beneficiary farmers were given five kilograms of high yielding seed, 20 kilograms of diammonium phosphate and 10 kilograms of potash fertilizers for aush paddy cultivation on one bigha of land each free of cost under the government's agricultural incentive programme.

He also said the aush farming is very much cost effective as it requires less production cost and faces less natural calamity.

Ismail Hossain, a farmer of Chhoto Rahi village under Godagari Upazila, had cultivated Binadhan-19 variety on around three bighas of land. He harvested paddy with a yield of 4.57 tonnes per hectare.

He is delighted over the yield as he got much yield compared to the conventional varieties.

Osman Gani, 53, a farmer of Bonpara village under Boraigram Upazila in Natore district, harvested 30 mounds of paddy from his one and half of bigha of land as he sold Brridhan-48 at Taka 940 per mound just after the harvest on the spot.

Another farmer Muhammad Alauddin, 48, got 40 mounds of the same variety from his two bighas of land in the same area.

Dr Fazlul Islam, Principal Scientific Officer of Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI), told BSS that the BRRIdhan-48 has become an icon of boosting aush paddy production in the region including its vast Barind tract during the last couple of years.

He said the variety is short duration and drought tolerant for the Aush season and it has been giving satisfactory yield while consuming comparatively low water in the area.

By virtue of early harvesting characteristics, the variety supplements the farming of transplanted Aman and various Rabi crops like tomato, brinjal, mustard and vegetables as the region is conventionally famous for farming these crops abundantly.

Source: BSS