Farmers and officials of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) are expecting a bumper production of Aush rice in all five districts of Rangpur agricultural region.
Harvest of early varieties of Aush rice has already begun while tender plants of its other varieties are growing splendidly amid favorable climatic conditions predicting a bumper production of the crop.
Earlier, the government had set a target of bringing 73,695 hectares of land under Aush rice cultivation to produce 2,15,231 tonnes of clean rice (3,22,847 tonnes in terms of paddy) for the region during the current Kharif-1 season.
"Farmers have cultivated Aush rice on 61,765 hectares of land, less by 11,928 hectares or 16.19 percent against the fixed farming target this time," Additional Director of the DAE, Rangpur region Agriculturist Md. Aftab Hossain said.
Meanwhile, farmers have so far harvested Aush rice on 2,630 hectares of land and produced 8,236 tonnes of clean rice (12,354 tonnes in terms of paddy) at an average yield rate of 3.13 tonnes of rice per hectare of land.
"The Aush rice harvest will get full momentum from mid-July next," Hossain said.
Cultivation of less irrigation water consuming and short duration Aus rice is becoming popular among farmers in Rangpur region following different pragmatic steps taken by the government during the last 14 years.
The steps include distribution of intensives in terms of high yielding varieties of Aush rice seeds and fertilisers, conducting motivational campaigns and providing the latest technologies and support to them.
As a result, farmers are expanding cultivation of Aush rice as an additional crop during the off-season after the Boro rice harvest and before transplantation of Aman rice seedlings to enhance rice production consistently.
During the last Kharif-1 season, farmers produced 1,78,777 tonnes of clean Aush rice (2,68,165 tonnes of paddy) from 63,680 hectares of land in agricultural region.
Earlier, farmers produced over 1.94-lakh tonnes of clean Aush rice in 2021 and 1.83-lakh tonnes of clean Aush rice in 2020 in the region.
"Besides, farmers produced 1.48-lakh tonnes of clean Aush rice in 2019, 1.23-lakh tonnes of clean Aush rice in 2018, 73,543 tonnes of clean Aush rice in 2017 in the region," Hossain added.
Deputy Director of the DAE for Rangpur Md. Obaidur Rahman Mandal said farmers can easily cultivate Aman rice on the same land after harvesting Aush rice by mid-August to enhance rice production to ensure food security.
The Independent Medal 2018 (food security) awardee Agriculturist Dr. Md. Abdul Mazid appreciated the government for providing incentives to farmers for expanding cultivation of less irrigation water by consuming Aush rice as an additional crop.
"Farmers are cultivating Aush rice, mostly using unused rainwater during May, June and July, adopting the latest technologies and increasing rice output every year despite adverse impacts of climate change," he added.
Talking to BSS, farmers Nur Islam, Mukul Hossain, Abul Kalam and Jakir Ahmed of different villages in Rangpur said they are expecting a bumper Aush rice output as its tender plants are growing superbly amid favorable climatic conditions.
