The government’s promotion of environment-friendly Aus paddy reducing Boro, which constitutes 55% of the country’s total rice production and is largely blamed for sharp decline in ground water level, has achieved lukewarm response from the farmers over the last three years.
Since 2010 the government has spent over Tk142 crore as stimulus packages for the last three years to increase Aus which constitutes over 7% of the total rice production in Bangladesh. In 1960 Aus accounted for around 25% while Boro was only 5% of the total rice contribution.
Agriculture Minister Begum Matia Chowdhury told parliament that the government would spend Tk30 crore 68 lakh more for Aus promotion this fiscal year, mainly to save the sharp fall in ground water level for which Boro is held responsible.
But the agricultural extension wing’s effort to motivate farmers to cultivate Aus has not worked properly. The growers prefer costly Boro for high production to that of Aus that grows with very little cost and care.
Officials say, the successive government’s policy of promoting Boro to meet the demand for rice for growing number of people has motivated the farmers to go for high yielding Boro and abandon Aus, which has a short life span.
Agriculture extension wing figures show, in 2010-11 fiscal farmers produced 21.33 lakh metric tonnes of Aus on 11.12 lakh hectares of land. Next year (2011-12), 23.33 lakh metric tonnes of Aus was produced on 11.38 lakh hectares of land.
In 2012-13, the total area and production of Aus came down. Farmers grew 21.58 metric tonnes of Aus on 10.53 lakh hectares of land.
The Boro production in 2012-13 and 2011-12 fiscal years were almost the same: 188 lakh metric tonnes.
Golam Ambia, an additional director of the field service wing of the agriculture extension wing, told the Dhaka Tribune that his department had been trying to motivate the farmers to cultivate the Aus.
He said the government would provide seed and fertiliser to the famers cultivating Aus free of cost.
Anil Chandra Sarker, a former director of the agriculture extension department, told the Dhaka Tribune: “The farmers are motivated for Boro as we have promoted it for decades. It is not easy in a year or two to motivate the farmers to cultivate apparently a low-yielding variety”.
“It needs massive campaign.”
The DAE figures show that just over two lakh metric tonnes of Aus grows on one hectare of land while Boro’s output is around four lakh metric tonnes on the same piece of land.
“At least 3,000 litres of water is required to produce one kilogram of Boro rice. This water comes from the ground water,” Rafiq Hasan, a deputy director of the agriculture extension wing, told the Dhaka Tribune.
Dr Md Eftakharul Alam, an agriculture, water and environment engineer serving the Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation (BADC), said Boro needed at least 15 irrigations while Aus one or two.
He said: “If we deposit the whole water used for Boro cultivation on one bigha of land it will be at least 48 inches high on the same piece of land.”
Alam said extraction of excessive ground water would result in the intrusion of saline water from Bay of Bengal to the ground spelling disaster in the agriculture sector.
Why Aus sustainable?
Aus is sown or transplanted after March 15, just before the advent of the wet season and grows when there is adequate rainfall. The farmers can harvest in 90 days without any major care.
“Aus grows easily with one or two irrigations in case of paucity of rainfall. But Boro cultivation starts in dry months of November and continue up to March 15,” Mostafijur Rahman, a farmer from Naogaon’s Manda area, told the Dhaka Tribune.
He said one farmer must pay up to Tk2, 500 for irrigation for Boro on one bigha of land.
Anil Chandra said the farmers the production of Aus was lower as the farmers did not take much care of it.
“If proper attention is paid, Aus productivity can be increased by at least 50%,” he said.
“But it needs more motivation.”