After Aman, govt eyes record Boro output
Saturday, 22 November 2008
S M Jahangir
The government is preparing an integrated workplan to facilitate intensive cultivation of the ensuing 'Boro' crop and attain an 18 million tonnes of rice output target, official sources said.
"An integrated effort of the relevant government agencies is underway to help boost the country's Boro production in the upcoming cropping season," a senior agriculture ministry official said.
The efforts are aimed at making the cultivation of Boro -- the country's largest cereal crop - successful through ensuring uninterrupted supply of fertilisers, electricity, diesel, farm loans and other agricultural inputs to the farmers, the official added.
After experiencing bumper rice output in the two consecutive cropping seasons - last Boro and current 'Aman'- officials and agriculturists are considering the Boro crop yield as vital for achieving self-sufficiency in domestic rice production.
Both the farmers and the government have made extra efforts for boosting the country's rice production following a drastic fall in last year's Aman output, caused by two successive floods and the November 15 super cyclone 'Sidr', officials said.
A shortfall of nearly 3.3-million tonnes of domestic Aman output coupled with soaring global prices of rice cast an adverse impact on the local rice market, they mentioned.
But the harvest of a record 17.8 million tonnes of rice in the last Boro season helped the country to recoup its foodgrain shortfall to a great extent, they observed.
Inspired by the previous year's record output, the local farmers are eyeing a very successful Boro cropping season, officials said.
Against this backdrop, the government has set the rice production target at 18 million tonnes for this year's Boro season, they said, adding that the process of cultivating the country's largest cereal crop will kick off from next month.
To achieve the target, the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) has earmarked over 4.67 million hectares of land to be brought under Boro plantation this year, said a senior official.
Last year, Boro crop was planted on 4.41 million hectares of land against the government target of 4.5 million hectares, they mentioned.
Of the total area, the DAE has fixed some 1.0 million hectares of land to be brought under cultivation of hybrid varieties this year, said an agriculture ministry official.
According to official sources, the private sector has already taken necessary preparations for meeting the farmers' growing demand for hybrid seeds.
Besides, an increased volume of quality high-yielding variety (HYV) seeds will also be available from the state-run Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation (BADC) and private suppliers, they added.
In addition to that, the government has planned to build buffer stocks of fertilisers, especially urea, with a view to ensuring smooth supply of the input to the Boro farmers.
Moreover, the power and energy divisions are also considering some prudent steps to ensure supply of both diesel and electricity so that the farmers can smoothly run their irrigation pumps during the upcoming Boro cropping season, official sources said.
However, the prices of some fertilisers other than urea being high are posing a serious threat to the government plan to reap better harvest in the coming Boro reason, sources said adding that the government does need to review the entire fertiliser distribution system.
The government is preparing an integrated workplan to facilitate intensive cultivation of the ensuing 'Boro' crop and attain an 18 million tonnes of rice output target, official sources said.
"An integrated effort of the relevant government agencies is underway to help boost the country's Boro production in the upcoming cropping season," a senior agriculture ministry official said.
The efforts are aimed at making the cultivation of Boro -- the country's largest cereal crop - successful through ensuring uninterrupted supply of fertilisers, electricity, diesel, farm loans and other agricultural inputs to the farmers, the official added.
After experiencing bumper rice output in the two consecutive cropping seasons - last Boro and current 'Aman'- officials and agriculturists are considering the Boro crop yield as vital for achieving self-sufficiency in domestic rice production.
Both the farmers and the government have made extra efforts for boosting the country's rice production following a drastic fall in last year's Aman output, caused by two successive floods and the November 15 super cyclone 'Sidr', officials said.
A shortfall of nearly 3.3-million tonnes of domestic Aman output coupled with soaring global prices of rice cast an adverse impact on the local rice market, they mentioned.
But the harvest of a record 17.8 million tonnes of rice in the last Boro season helped the country to recoup its foodgrain shortfall to a great extent, they observed.
Inspired by the previous year's record output, the local farmers are eyeing a very successful Boro cropping season, officials said.
Against this backdrop, the government has set the rice production target at 18 million tonnes for this year's Boro season, they said, adding that the process of cultivating the country's largest cereal crop will kick off from next month.
To achieve the target, the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) has earmarked over 4.67 million hectares of land to be brought under Boro plantation this year, said a senior official.
Last year, Boro crop was planted on 4.41 million hectares of land against the government target of 4.5 million hectares, they mentioned.
Of the total area, the DAE has fixed some 1.0 million hectares of land to be brought under cultivation of hybrid varieties this year, said an agriculture ministry official.
According to official sources, the private sector has already taken necessary preparations for meeting the farmers' growing demand for hybrid seeds.
Besides, an increased volume of quality high-yielding variety (HYV) seeds will also be available from the state-run Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation (BADC) and private suppliers, they added.
In addition to that, the government has planned to build buffer stocks of fertilisers, especially urea, with a view to ensuring smooth supply of the input to the Boro farmers.
Moreover, the power and energy divisions are also considering some prudent steps to ensure supply of both diesel and electricity so that the farmers can smoothly run their irrigation pumps during the upcoming Boro cropping season, official sources said.
However, the prices of some fertilisers other than urea being high are posing a serious threat to the government plan to reap better harvest in the coming Boro reason, sources said adding that the government does need to review the entire fertiliser distribution system.