SYLHET, Feb 26: Boro farming area in Sylhet region has exceeded the target set by the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE).
Official sources said heavy rainfall and delay recession of floodwater hampered the farming at the beginning of the season. Even the seedbed preparation was hampered during the winter. But the growers of the division have overcome all the hurdles and achieved the target finally.
The DAE had set the Boro farming target on 475, 389 hectares of land in the division. However, the crop has so far been cultivated on about 477,798 hectares in these districts, informed an official at the DAE divisional office on Monday. It includes 82,005 hectares of land in Sylhet, 54,012 hectares in Moulvibazar, 121,430 hectares in Habiganj and highest 220,351 hectares in the district of Sunamganj.
Additional director of DAE, Sylhet division, Md Altabur Rahman said this time the target has been surpassed since new areas came under cultivation. Yet the weather is good enough while the farmers now trying to get highest yield since they had suffered devastating crop loss last year.
Some more areas would come under farming in the next two weeks, he added.
As the last year's Boro crop was almost totally destroyed by the repeated and early floods and excess rains coupled with rolling down of waters from the upstream in the Indian states of Meghalaya and Assam, they are doing hard this year.
The government this year provided assistance in seed, fertiliser and cash to over 40,5000 listed poor and marginal farmers in Sylhet division. Of them highest 300,000 was in Sunamganj. The PM and President as well as some ministers also visited the region to see for themselves.
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