RAJSHAHI, Jan 20 (BSS): By virtue of gradually rising interest among the farmers and others concerned, acreage of wheat farming in bed-planting method has started gaining popularity in the region including its vast Barind tract for the last couple of years.
In the current season, the wheat farmers are hopeful of harvesting better yield like the previous year through adopting the bed plantation system.
Not only in the wheat farming, the farmers were seen showing to adopt the method in some other seasonal crops like mugbean, maize, potato and lentil in the current season.
Some of the farmers, scientists and researchers narrated the success story while talking to BSS. They revealed that raised-bed planting of wheat is advantageous in areas where ground water level is receding and herbicide-resistant weeds are creating a problem.
Farmers Ashraf Ali and Abdul Latif, of Baduria village under Charghat Upazila of the district said that they got two bed-planter machines from Regional Wheat Research Center (RWRC) and cultivated wheat on around 250 bighas of land last year. They harvested 5/7 mounds more yield from per bigha of land than the conventional system.
The donation inspired them to purchase two machines, by which they brought around 450 bighas under the wheat farming in the current season.
Besides, they have become machinery service providers and are doing business and making money through sowing seeds on others' lands. Similarly, the landowners are also getting benefits in the system.
The farmers, however, said they need subsidy to purchase adequate planters for large-scale expansion of the wheat and other crops farming in the region.
RWRC Chief Scientific Officer Dr Israil Hossain told BSS that wheat was cultivated on around 0.17 million hectares of land in the region this year and 5,000 hectares of those were brought under the bed-plantation method. He expected that the wheat farming in the modern system will be increased in next season.
Under the conventional system, the single largest constraint requires planting of wheat in the country late in winter, leading to a poor yield. Sowing bed could be a good alternative to the country's dominant wet culture, he said.
Dr Hossian recommended minimising the constraints for the sake of sustainable wheat production. Farmers needed to be aware about the resource conserving technologies and modern scientific methods so that wheat production remained technologically sound, economically viable, socially acceptable and environmentally secure.
Bed-planting method wheat farming gains popularity in Rajshahi
FE Team | Published: January 21, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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