The farmers have completed harvest of the short duration Aman paddy in the northern districts to get bumper production combating the seasonal lean period.
The harvest began in the last week of September and continued till November 1, said sources at Department of Agriculture Extension.
The DAE sources said the farmers had got good yield rate of 4.5 tonnes paddy per hectare on average after completing harvest this season.
Farmers of northern districts have already started cultivation of Robi crops, including potato, creating working opportunities for farm and day labourers.
Meanwhile, the newly harvested short duration variety BINA dhan 7, BRRI dhan 33, BRRI dhan 39, BRRI dhan 56, BRRI dhan 57, BRRI dhan 46 and other short duration hybrid variety rice has already appeared in the local markets, reports BSS.
According to the DAE sources, the farmers had cultivated these short duration paddies on 172,690 hectares of land.
Farmers – Lokman Hossain, Arifur Rahman, Abidur Rahman, Kalam Hosain, Shachindra Nath, Halimuzzaman and Kafil Uddin said they got 4.8 tonnes paddy per hectare on an average this year.
Renowned rice scientist and Associate Director Agriculture of BRAC International (South Asia and Africa) Dr M A Mazid said expanded farming of short duration Aman paddy had brought revolutionary success in combating ‘monga’ in recent years.
Executive Director of Northbengal Institutive of Development Studies Dr Syed Samsuzzaman said early harvest of the short duration paddy assisted the poor in overcoming the seasonal ‘monga’ that has already disappeared five years ago.
“There is no monga for the fifth consecutive time this season following expanded farming of short duration paddy with early harvest side by side with the government’s massive social safety net programmes in the northern districts,” she added.
Additional Director of the DAE Sikander Ali said the farmers were getting more profits through farming shot duration paddy and subsequent cultivation of early winter vegetables, potato, mug, maize, mustard etc on the same land, increasing crops production.
