GOPALGANJ, May 13: Boro harvest is going on in full swing in the district. DAE officials and farmers are expecting a bumper production of paddy this season.
According to the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), Gopalganj, a total of 77,896 hectares of land have been brought under Boro cultivation in the district where 48,551 hectares are under high yielding variety (HYV), 29,221 hectares are under Upasi and 124 hectares are under local variety.
Total Boro production target of the district this season is 3,42,572 tonnes.
Farmer Jahar Lal Banik of Raghunathpur Charpara village under Gopalganj Sadar said he cultivated Boro on 2.50 bighas (150 decimal) of land this year and got 225 maunds of paddy. "But acute labour shortage is hampering the work. A worker charges Tk 700 to Tk 800 per day. High labour rate increases production cost", he added.
Prodip Halder, sub-assistant agriculture officer of DAE, Raghunathpur Block, said a good number of growers of the district apply modern agri methods on their paddy field. For this they get their desired output.
Abdul Kadir Sarder, additional deputy director (Crop) of the Department of Agriculture Extension, Gopalganj, said favourable weather and smooth supply of agri-input are the main reasons for achieving such bumper production.
Samir Kumar Goshwami, deputy director (Agriculture), Goaplganj, said paddy farmers are delighted as they are getting a good production.
Meanwhile, BSS adds: in Joypurhat, farmers are expecting a bumper Boro rice production during the current season in all five upazilas.
The Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) officials here said today a total of 72,415 hectares of land have been brought under the Boro cultivation in the district with fixing the production target of 3,40,000 tonnes of rice this year.
They said favorable climatic condition, proper distribution of high quality seeds and availability of electricity, fertilizers and other agri inputs made the expectation of bumper Boro production.
Making the cultivation programme a grand success and bringing all arable land under this programme, the commercial banks including Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank disbursed loan to the poor and the marginal farmers during the season.
While visiting several fields of Boro paddy this correspondent found that the early variety of Boro paddy including BIRI-28, BIRI- 29, 33, 58, Jagorony, ACI Gold, Jagoroni Mukta, Hira, Moyna, Tia, Dhani, Dhani Gold and Zirashail has already started ripening.
Md Mahbubur Rahman, a farmer of Dharki village in sadar upazila, said he cultivated Boro paddy on seven bighas of land this year and expected a bumper production as it grew very well.
