RAJSHAHI, June 23 (BSS): Direct Seeded Rice (DSR) farming process has reduced production cost to 45 per cent to 50 per cent than the conventional system in Barind area thanks to the blessings of farm mechanisation.
"We have found the optimistic result in demonstration plots of some grain crops including Aus paddy in the area," said Dr Arshadul Haque, Senior Scientific Officer (SSO) of Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute (BARI).
DSR rice cultivation by BARI seeder requires an investment of Tk 4,500 per bigha against the conventional method's Tk 8,000.
Dr Haque, SSO of Farm Machinery and Postharvest Process Engineering Division, revealed this while illustrating the salient feature of the method at a field day styled "Direct Seeded Aus Rice Fields Sown by BARI Seeder" at Dubuil village under Tanore upazila in the district.
FMP Engineering Division and On Farm Research Division (OFRD) jointly organised the programme in association with Krishi Gobeshona Foundation under its 'Improvement and Validation of BARI Seeder for Grain Crops under different Cropping Patterns and Soil Condition Project'.
Additional Secretary (Research) of the Ministry of Agriculture Kamala Ranjan Das addressed the meeting as chief guest while Director (Research) of BARI Dr Abdul Wahab was in the chair.
Director General of Bangladesh Sugar Crop Research Institute Dr Amzad Hossain and its Director (Research) Dr Samajit Kumar Paul, Chief Scientific Officer and Head of FMP Engineering Division Dr Ayub Hossain, Chief Scientific Officer of Bangladesh Rice Research Institute Dr Aminul Islam and Deputy Director of Department of Agriculture Extension Shamsul Haque also spoke.
Disseminating his expertise on the issue OFRD Senior Scientific Officer Dr Shakhawat Hossain told the meeting that there are enormous scopes of growing Aush rice in between Rabi crops and Transplanted Aman paddy as there are some Aus varieties like BINA dhan 19 and BRRI dhan 62 which require less water. Some farmers of this region cultivated these Aush rice as direct seeded broadcasted rice.
He adds large-scale promotion of the method can be the vital means of mitigating some of the existing problems like shortage of irrigation water and labour in the vast Barind tract.
Dr Hossain identically opined that the region's agriculture is facing many challenges including climate change, labour shortage, irrigation water scarcity and increase in crop cultivation cost. So, promotion of farm mechanization has become indispensable to address the multiple problems.
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