BSS, Rajshahi
Farmers have started harvesting aush paddy with getting bumper yield everywhere in Rajshahi region amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
At this moment, farmers are seen cut off some high yielding and short duration varieties like Brridhan-48, Brridhan-82, Brridhan-28 and Brridhan-26 developed by Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) and local jira and Parija varieties.
Dr Fazlul Islam, Principal Scientific Officer of BRRI, said the farmers are very much happy after getting bumper yield, availing scopes of spot selling.
He said BRRI has established 26 demonstration plots of the high yielding varieties through providing two tonnes of seeds and fertilizers free of cost to promote cultivation of this variety in the region.
Ismail Hossain, a farmer of Chhoto Rahi village under Godagari Upazila, had cultivated Binadhan-19 variety on around three bighas of land. He harvested paddy on Monday last with a yield of 4.57 tonnes per hectare.
He is delighted over the yield as he got much yield compared to the conventional varieties.
Osman Gani, 53, a farmer of Bonpara village under Boraigram Upazila in Natore district, harvested 30 mounds of paddy from his one and half of bigha of land as he sold Brridhan-48 at Taka 940 per mound just after the harvest on the spot on Saturday.
Another farmer Muhammad Alauddin, 48, got 40 mounds of the same variety from his two bighas of land in the same area.
Meanwhile, around 6.44 lakh tonnes of Aush rice is expected to be produced from 2.46 lakh hectares of land in the division during the current season.
Target has been set to produce 4.89 lakh tonnes of rice from 1.82 lakh hectares of land in Rajshahi, Naogaon, Chapainawabganj and Natore districts under Rajshahi agricultural zone while another 1.55 lakh tonnes from 63,728 hectares in Bogura, Joypurhat, Pabna and Sirajgonj districts under Bogura agricultural zone. Sirajul Islam, Additional Director of the DAE, said a total of 69,300 small and marginal farmers received seed and fertilizers as incentives worth around Taka 6.07 crore for the cultivation of Aush paddy in the current Kharif-1 season in the division. The beneficiary farmers were given five kilograms of high yielding seed, 20 kilograms of diammonium phosphate and 10 kilograms of potash fertilizers for aush paddy cultivation on one bigha of land each free of cost under the government’s agricultural incentive programme.
Agriculturist Islam said the aush farming is very much cost effective as it requires less production cost and faces less natural calamity.
Ahad Ali, 35, a farmer of Ishwaripur village under Godagari Upazila, received the incentives expressing his gratitude to the government for standing beside them. Another marginal farmer Muhammad Karim, 47, of Fulbari village is now happy after getting the incentives.
Dr Anwar Uddin, Senior Scientific Officer, said BRRI dhan48 performed better than any other varieties this year.
BRRIdhan-48, a short duration and drought tolerant paddy variety for the Aush season, has been giving satisfactory yield with consuming comparatively low water in the area, he added.
