Agriculture Minister Dr Muhammad Abdur Razzaque has said that the Boro cultivation has exceeded the target in the country this year. The cultivation of hybrid rice has also exceeded the target due to giving importance on increasing the cultivation, he added.
The minister said these while he was speaking at a meeting to review the progress of implementation of the Annual Development Project (ADP) on Sunday. He joined the meeting virtually from the conference room of his ministry.
Md Mesbahul Islam, Senior Secretary of the ministry, moderated the meeting. Project officials, including senior officials of the ministry, and the heads of the different organisations were present at the time.
Dr Abdur Razzaque said that a bumper Boro production is expected this year if the paddy is harvested properly from Haors and other areas of the country. Not only the Boro paddy, the production situation of other crops is also in good condition, he added.
According to the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), a total of 48,5,200 hectares of land were brought under Boro cultivation this year. But a total of 48,83,760 hectares of land were planted. Of this, the target for hybrid paddy cultivation was set at 11 lakh 4 thousand 633 hectares. But 12 lakh 13 thousand 450 hectares of land were brought under cultivation. As a result, the total cultivation has increased to about 120,000 hectares and hybrid cultivation has increased to about 325,000 hectares this year as compared to last year.
It also mentioned that incentives of about Tk 145 crore were distributed among farmers in bid to increase the planting and production of Boro paddy this year. Of this, an incentive of around Tk 85 crore were given to increase the cultivation of hybrid varieties of paddy. The target was to cultivate hybrid varieties of paddy in more than 200,000 hectares of land this year.
Abdur Razzaque said, “Although our country has a large number of population, the cultivable land in the country is decreasing day by day. We have to produce rice and other crops in the limited land to be self-sufficient in food.”
He also said,“Efforts are being made to increase the cultivation and production of maize, potato, vegetables, oil, pulses and spices. However, due to scarcity of land, if one plantation is increased, another is reduced. Therefore, in order to continue and increase the production of all crops, it is necessary to increase productivity. In order to increase productivity, everyone including researchers, scientists and extension workers should be more focused.”
It was informed at the meeting that a total of Tk 2,400 crore were allocated in favuor of 68 projects under the Ministry of Agriculture in the ADP of the current fiscal year 2020-21. Implementation progress till February 2021 is 40.39%. Where the national average progress is 33.83%.
