Agri scientists for short-duration paddy cultivation to recoup flood losses in Sylhet haor region

SYLHET, Oct 23: Senior agriculture scientists at a workshop on Sunday laid emphasis on raising farming area and yield of short-duration paddy varieties to recoup the massive crop loss in the haor (low lying) region during the recent flood.

The Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI), Habiganj regional centre, organised the event on 'Risk-free Boro farming in haor region' at the auditorium of the Sylhet district council.

BRRI Director General Dr Md Shahjahan Kabir presided over the programme while additional secretary of the Agriculture Ministry Md Mosharraf Hossain attended as the chief guest.

DAE Director General Md Golam Maruf, BRRI Director Tomal Lota Aditya and Sylhet region DAE additional director Md Altabur Rahman addressed the workshop as the special guests.

Dr. Nazmul Bari, station in-charge of the Habiganj regional centre of BRRI presented the keynote paper.

The workshop was told the region produces a significant amount of paddy from 0.73 million hectares of land every year.

But sometimes farmers cannot cultivate right paddy variety paddy on right time due to frequent flood and incessant rainfall.

In the situation, the speakers focus on creating large-scale awareness among the farmers.

Although the harvest begins in late April every year, the floods hit the haor region much ahead of that at the end of March putting the farmers in a huge trouble last year. Besides, cold also hit the paddy production every year. So the farmers would have to prefer varieties like BRRI-28, BRRI-35, BRRI-36 and BRRI-45 variety, which take 140-145 days to be harvested.

The farmers have to prepare seedbed and sow the plants by November 15 to harvest by April 10 in a safe way and to have avert risks.

The chief guest said, "We all would have to work hard for serving the 0.40 million Boro farmers in Sylhet region this season to make the government-run agriculture rehabilitation programme successful."

He asked the field-level officials to ensure supply of seeds and other inputs in time. The government would take immediate steps for any failure in this regard, he added.

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