Boro yield up by 2.1m tonnes, but still falls short of target

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The country's Boro paddy production rose by 2.1 million tonnes to 17 million tonnes in fiscal 2007-08, said a senior finance ministry official Wednesday.

"The production of Boro in fiscal 2007-08 is 17 million tonnes," said the official quoting the provisional estimate by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).

But the yield is still short of target for the year by 0.5 million tonnes. The Boro production was 14.9 million tonnes in 2006-07.

The Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) under the agricultural ministry set Boro production target at 17.5 million tonnes.

The higher target was fixed to offset the loss of Aman paddy worth US$600 million due to recurrent floods in July-August period and cyclone Sidr in November last year.

A BBS official said Boro production was originally projected at 16 million tonnes when the crop was planted during January-February period.

He, however, said it still needs at least another month to release the official data about the actual Boro production.

The official said 2.1 million higher Boro yield has been made possible due to government efforts to bring nearly 1.0 million hectares of additional land under cultivation.

The country's farmers, encouraged by the higher rice price in local and international market, cultivated Boro on 5.3 million hectares of land in fiscal 2007-08 compared to 4.3 million hectares in 2006-07 fiscal.

Besides, the use of hybrid seeds went up by almost 100 per cent to 10,000 tonnes that has contributed higher production, said the official.