Aman harvest begins in Narsingdi

NARSINGDI, Nov 09 (BSS): Harvest of early variety BRRI Dhan-62 and BINA Dhan-7 has begun in the district.

Deputy director of DAE Latafat Hossain told the news agency that so far 5.0 to 6.0 per cent paddy has already been harvested in the district.

He said the harvest began in a ceremony at Shokandi union under Monohardi upazila in the district from November 01. After threshing it was found that about 3.50 tonnes to four tonnes of paddy have produced per hectare.

Farmers are happy that they are getting good production of Aman this season as crop has been growing excellent under the favorable climate condition everywhere in the district.

DAE sources said, farmers of the district have cultivated 41,250 hectares of land in the current season against the target of 39,400 hectares land fixed by the department for the district.

The Deputy Director hopes that if there is no climate hazard in the district in the current month of November, over 100,000 tonnes of Aman rice will be produced in the district

He said the Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC) had supplied quality seeds to the farmers at fair prices and different commercial banks including Bangladesh Krishi Bank disbursed easy term of loan to the farmers.

Beside, the necessary measures have been taken to distributing fertilisers, insecticides and other agriculture inputs among the growers. In addition DAE has been providing training among the farmers for adopting modern technologies in paddy cultivation.

Meanwhile, in Joypurhat, farmers of the district are expecting a bumper production of Aman this year as they have cultivated the paddy on 70,970 hectares of land.

The DAE office sources said the target of producing the Aman rice was fixed at 197,582 tonnes. Now, the growers are expecting to harvest a bumper production of Aman than the fixed target.

Of the lands, farmers cultivated high yielding variety on 66,165 hectares of land, hybrid variety on 3,955 hectares and local variety on 850 hectares.

The farmers could exceed the cultivation target due to favorable climate condition, supply of adequate quantity of improved quality Aman seeds, distribution of fertilizers from different state-run agencies including the BADC and BCIC.

The growers successfully protected their cultivated Aman paddy from various pest attacks and other diseases by applying the integrated pest management (IPM) methods following the suggestions of the crop specialists of the DAE.