An agri wholesale market at Dhaphat under Dupchanchia upazila of Bogra. The photo was taken on Thursday. — FE Photo BOGRA, Feb 15: Boro growers of the district are worried over the high rate of saplings this season.
Sources said shortage of Boro saplings is prevailing in the area. A good number of growers cannot even start farming in want of saplings.
Acute cold like situation have recently damaged many Boro seedbeds, the sources added.
According to the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), a target has been set to bring around 0.2 million hectares of land under Boro cultivation this season. Saplings have been planted on over 30,000 hectares of land till Thursday.
Farmer Mohsin Ali of Kuraher village under Dupchanchia upazila said he made a profit of Tk 4,000 from the sale a sapling in the local market. He said, "I had sold the same amount of Boro saplings at Tk 2000 last season."
After visiting different areas this correspondent found that the peasants throng the wholesale market for purchasing saplings to start cultivation.
Some growers said to plant a bigha of land farmers need two pones (40 Honda) of sapling which cost Tk 7000. It is hard to bear the cost for the extreme-poor peasants.
Meanwhile, our Tangail correspondent adds: Farmers of all the 12 upazilas of the district are now passing busy time to grow Boro paddy this season.
The Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), Tangail, set a target to grow the paddy on 1,66,898 hectares of land with the production target of 6,56,185 tonnes.
Shariful Islam, sub-assistant agriculture officer of DAE, said saplings transplantation is nearing to complete. "We expect a good paddy production this season", he said.
Fazlur Rahman of Mamudpur village under Delduar upazila said per bigha production cost stands at Tk 1,500 to Tk 2,000 this season. He said authority concerned should take effective measures to reduce the production cost.
He said the local agri officials are supportive. They visit the fields regularly and suggest applying modern techniques to boost paddy output.
Nargis Akhter, sub-assistant agri official of DAE, weather is suitable still now. Farmers are provided all necessary inputs so that they could continue cultivation smoothly.
Sources said different commercial banks including Sonali Bank and Bangladesh Krishi Bank (BKB) have already started disbursing loans among the Boro farmers.
Meanwhile, BSS adds: In Panchagarh, cultivation of Boro paddy, a high yielding crop, has been progressing fast in all the five upazilas of the district during the current season.
Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) sources said about 46,300 hectares of land brought under Boro cultivation in the district with the production target of 2,50,000 tonnes of rice.
Farmers in several villages of sadar upazila are very busy to planting the Boro seedling from the seedbed like BR-28, BR-Hira and other varieties of Boro paddy, hopping to get desired output.
Deputy director of DAE Md, Samchul Huque told the news agency that the department has been supplied quality seeds, fertilizers and others agri-inputs among the farmers at a free of cost.
The DAE also gave imparted training among the farmers for boosting bumper production.
The field level agri-officers are monitoring Boro field.
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