Aman harvest continues in full swing in districts

The harvesting of Transplanted Aman (T-Aman) paddy is on full swing in Manikganj and Netrakona district, reports BSS

In Manikganj, farmers in the district are expecting excellent production of T-Aman paddy as the cultivation target of T-Aman paddy exceeded by the farmers during the current season.

Deputy Director of DAE Abu Mohammad Enayet Ullah said the department had set a target of cultivation of T-Aman paddy on 10,050 hectares of land with a production target of 33,789 metric tonnes of clean rice in the district during the current season. But the farmers had cultivated 11,462 hectares of land, 1412 hectares more than the fixed target.

A total of 4,000 small and marginal farmers got seed and fertiliser as incentives from the government for boosting the production of Aman paddy in the district during the current season.

Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) office sources said the government has distributed 5 kilograms (kg) of Aman seed for cultivating one bigha of land and necessary fertilisers, including 10 kgs of Di-ammonium Phosphate (DAP) and 10 kgs of Muriate of Potash (MoP), each of the listed farmers free of cost.

DAE office sources said Aman paddy generally grows on alluvial soil. So, the seed was distributed among the selected farmers of five of seven upazilas of the district. The Upazilas are Manikganj Sadar, Saturia, Singair, Ghior and Daulatpur. The farmers of the district cultivated the Aman paddy on their land after harvesting the Boro paddy, the sources added.

The T-Aman cultivators mainly depend on rainy seasonal water. But the seasonal water was not available during the current season. So the rain water was very much helpful for cultivation of T-Aman in the district. Some of the cultivators depended on swallow machine water all over the area.

More than seventy per cent of Aman paddy harvesting has already been completed, DAE sources said.

In Netrakona, farmers in the district are now passing busy times with harvesting the paddy in a festive mood.

The Aman cultivators and crop specialists of the DAE here are expecting bumper production as they are getting better yielding rate.

DAE office sources said farmers could bring a total of 1, 34,090 hectors of land under T-Aman cultivation in the district this year with a plan for producing 3,90,522 metric tonnes of Aman paddy.

However, standing Aman crops on a total of 10,251 hectors of land of the total cultivated land of the district were damaged by flash flood waters this year.

Talking to the news agency, this correspondent, DAE Deputy Director Mohammad Nuruzzaman informed that bumper production of the T-Aman rice is expected to be achieved by the farmers as they are getting better output.

He said the farmers are getting hybrid variety of rice in an average four tonnes of per hector, High Yielding Variety (HYV) three tonnes and local variety 1.75 tonnes per hector.

The Aman cultivators are getting better yielding rate as the weather condition remained favorable after the flood and the government ensured proper supply of improved quality seeds, fertilisers and other agricultural equipment at the door-steps of the farmers, he said.

The government also distributed loan among the Aman growers through state-run banks including Bangladesh Krishi Bank to help them for making Aman rice cultivation successful.

Apart from this, the government took an agriculture incentive giving program in the district to assist the small and marginal farmers to run their Aman cultivation programme properly without any financial problem.

Under the agriculture incentive giving program, the government distributed 42.4 metric tons of improved quality seeds, 80 metric tonnes of DAP and 80 metric tonnes of MOP as agriculture incentive among the 9200 small and marginal farmers of the district.

The filed-level officials and crops specialists of the DAE extended their field-level service round-the-clock to acquaint the farmers with the modern methods of Aman cultivation through using latest technologies, the deputy director added.