RDRS Bangladesh has initiated a plan to cultivate Pariza Paddy, an indigenous rice variety, on the fallow and uncultivated land in the district during the off-season, to help farmers achieve additional yield and improve the country's food security.
Sources said a total of 4,000 bighas of land in four upazilas of the district would be brought under the cultivation with the production target of at least 2,240 metric tonnes of rice this year.
The farmers are preparing their land for Pariza paddy farming by raising seedlings and transplanting them in the fields according to the advice of field level agriculture officials of RDRS Bangladesh and Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), with the hopes of achieving the desired production.
M Jahidul Islam, a farmer of Satirjan village under Sundarganjupazila, said as he has done inthe previous four seasons, he would once again farm the variety on a few bighas of land this year to get at least 14 maunds of paddy from a bigha of land without hampering his Aman cultivation.
Agriculture coordinator of RDRS Bangladesh M Mamunur Rashid said "Generally, the farmers of this region complete the harvest of early variety Boro paddy in April and start the cultivation of Aman paddy on the same land at the end of July".
As the land remains fallow for two and a half months between the Boro and Aman seasons, the farmers can easily produce short duration Pariza Paddy,relying solely on rainwater, on the uncultivated land for profit and to achieve food security, he said.
To make the programme successful, RDRS Bangladesh would supply quality seeds to the farmers in the project command areas and distribute insecticides and other agricultural inputs to help boost production of the paddy this year, said Saiful Islam, assistant agriculture officer of the organisation.
In a bid to create work opportunities for labourers during the lean period and to address their poor economic circumstances, Pariza Paddy cultivation has been continuing in the district since 2009 at the initiative of RDRS Bangladesh, said programme manager PorsiaRahman.
Crops production specialist of DAE GolamMostafa said: "As the climate of the district is very suitable, farmers can cultivate this paddy on a large scale every year on land of medium height which has no possibility of being submerged by floodwaters".
The Deputy Director of DAE Mir AbdurRazzaksaid instructions have been given to the field-level sub-assistant agriculture officers to motivate and assist the farmers to cultivate the Pariza Paddy successfully, to turn Gaibandha into a food surplus district.