About 90 per cent of Boro paddy has been harvested so far in the haor region, expecting that this year a record 22 million tonnes of rice will be produced in the boro season, says Agriculture Minister Abdur Razzaque. It is good news that farmers of the haor region were able to protect their paddy and harvested their crop without facing any natural disaster like flash flood and nor’wester this time.
Boro paddy harvesting in the haor region, which popularly known as grain bowl of the country is going on in full swing for the last 20 days. Agriculture experts of the Department of Agriculture Extension is expecting bumper production of the Boro rice this season after seeing the better output rate of the crop.
About 49,00,076 hectares of land was targeted to be brought under boro cultivation in fiscal 2022-23 while boro paddy was cultivated on about 50 lakh hectares. This year the production target is 2.15 crore metric tonnes of rice.
The government will have to
form special monitoring
committeeto ensure fair
price for the farmers’ crop
The condition of paddy in the field is good and paddy has also been harvested well in haors. Hopefully, 10 lakh tonnes more rice could be produced this year than the target. Farmers are also getting a fair price for paddy as they are able to sell paddy at Taka 900 to 1200 per maund after harvesting from the field.
About 4.52 lakh hectares of land was brought under boro cultivation this year in seven haor districts - Sylhet, Moulvibazar, Habiganj, Sunamganj, Kishoreganj, Netrakona and Brahmanbaria. The haor people mainly depend on Boro crops feel worried about protecting their paddy from flash floods.
Flash flood destroys the boro crops especially in the seven haor districts every year. Farmers of these areas are the worst sufferers as flash flood pushes them into extreme poverty every year. Crops, especially boro paddy, on vast areas are either damaged or washed during April and May. Apart from damaging crops, people living there may also face serious difficulties due to flash flood water like in the past.
Since the late spring, panic starts gripping the people as they fear flash flood breaching the risky embankment can leave their region a trail of devastation anytime. But this year, country’s these areas have not experienced flash floods.
On the other hand, we saw in the previous year many farmers did not get fair prices as the government had not procured paddy directly from them. As result the middlemen always get benefited as the government buys rice only from mill owners. Therefore, the government will have to form special monitoring committee to ensure fair price for the farmers’ crop.