Farmers of Raninagar upazila in Naogaon are busy planting Aman seedlings at the beginning of the season. This time, the farmers are cultivating the land in a hurry before the heavy rains and downpour comes down from the upper reaches. Paddy planting has already been completed in about 780 hectares of land in the upazila.
According to the Upazila Agriculture Office, the target has been set to plant Aman paddy in about 16,130 hectares of land in six unions of the upazila this season. Several varieties of paddy including Atap, Bri-95, Bina 17, Swarna-5, Bri-71, Bri-75, Bri-49 are being planted in these lands. Some farmers are seen plowing the land, some are cutting the isle of the land, and some are busy planting paddy.
Farmers are hoping that if the weather is favorable, better yield can be expected this time. Every year, thousands of bighas of paddy in the area drown in the flood waters when the Nandaibari dam of the Jamuna River collapses. But this year, the locals think that the risk of floods is less due to the embankment being repaired. As a result, the dream of the farmers is to be able to cultivate paddy in a proper way in the current season.
Many farmers including Khalilur Rahman of Kaligram, Jahangir Alam, Shajahan Ali of Sarkatia village and Gautam Chandra of Jalkai village of the upazila said that the yield of paddy has been good in the last season due to favorable weather. Besides, they have benefited from the very good price of paddy in the market. This time, they started planting Aman paddy at the beginning of the season. They are planting paddy before the land is submerged in heavy rains or in the downpour from the northern upstream.
Farmers also said that it would be difficult to plant paddy at any time if the land was submerged in water. Besides, the amount of water available in the land at present is suitable for planting paddy. When the long drought starts, when the water of the land dries up, it will be difficult to plant paddy. So at the beginning of the season, they are busy planting Aman paddy early.
Raninagar Upazila Agriculture Officer Shahidul Islam said farmers planted paddy in about 19,000 hectares of land last Boro season. Due to the favorable weather, the yield of paddy and good market prices has benefited a lot. A target has been set to plant Aman paddy in 16,130 hectares of land across the upazila this season. Paddy planting has already been completed in 780 hectares of land.