RANGPUR, Nov 13 (BSS): The Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) has fixed a record target of producing 1.33 million tonnes of wheat from 0.43 million hectares land in the country during the current Rabi season, officials sources said.
According to the DAE sources, the farmers are expected to cultivate wheat on more land this year following repeated bumper productions in recent years with lucrative market price and minimum farming costs to earn profit against costly potato or Boro cultivation.
Under the programme, a record target of producing over 0.85 million tonnes wheat has been fixed from over 0.27 million hectares land this season for the country's northern region, commonly known as the food granary.
Talking to BSS, Horticulture Specialist Khondker Md. Mesbahul Islam of the DAE said the fixed wheat production target for the northern region is 64.33 percent of the fixed total national production target this season.
During the last season, the farmers had produced all-time record quantity of over 10.10 lakh tonnes wheat, higher by 24.33 percent or 0.19 million tonnes than the fixed target of producing 8.13 lakh tonnes from 0.29 million heaters land in the region.
The farmers had produced 10.10 lakh tonnes wheat in the region, which was 78.84 percent of the national production target of 1.28 million tonnes from 42 million hectares land last season.
According to DAE sources, wheat production has been increasing in recent years in the northern region where the farmers produced over 0.97 million tonnes wheat during the previous last 2012-2013 and 0.76 million tonnes during the 2011-2012 Rabi seasons.
Deputy Director of DAE Zulfiquer Haider said the DAE, Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation, Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute (BARI) and agriculture related organisations have taken steps to make the programme successful.
The farmers mostly prefer to cultivate high yielding varieties like Satabdi, Bijoy, Gaurab, Sourab, Pradip, Monalisa, Kanchan, Akbar, Sufi and BARI Gom 25 and BARI Gom 26 in the northern region in recent years.
CBO leaders’ role
A BSS report says: Speakers at the concluding ceremony of a training course recently said women leaders of the community-based organisations (CBO) could play vital role in preventing social erosions to accelerate rural uplift.
Fulbari Area Development Programme (ADP) of World Vision Bangladesh (WVB) organised the three-day 'CBO Leadership and Management Training' at its Madila Sub-centre under Betdighee union of Fulbari upazila in Dinajpur since last Saturday.
The training course was aimed at flourishing leadership of female leaders, enhancing their sustainable management capacities for preventing social erosions and building bigger capitals of the CBOs to accelerate uplift of the poor and extremely poor rural people.
