Aman plantation in country gathers momentum
S M Jahangir | Thursday, 14 August 2008
'Aman' plantation has gathered momentum across the country with the forecast of no major flooding this year raising hopes among farmers about a good harvest, agriculture officials said.
Terming the current Aman cropping season as one of the favourable ones in many years, they have expressed the hope that the country is expected to witness a better rice output this year.
"We are quite optimistic about the achievement of both the cultivation and production targets in the current Aman season," a senior official of the agriculture ministry said.
The government has earmarked over 5.82 million hectares of land to come under Aman plantation this year, the official said.
The Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) has already reported that more than 55 per cent of the total targetted land has come under Aman cultivation, which will continue throughout the current month.
Referring to the DAE's field-level information, a senior official said: "Hopefully, the country is set to achieve this year's Aman cultivation target."
Both the farmers and the government's agriculture agencies have given special attention to harvesting a robust Aman crop this year following a major shortfall in the last year's Aman production, caused by two successive floods and a super cyclone 'Sidr' that hit the country's southwestern coastal districts on November 15, 2007.
Due to the series of natural calamities, the country's Aman output fell to about 9.6 million tonnes last year against the target of 13 million tonnes.
"Farmers across the country have made extra efforts to boost their Aman production for recouping their last year's crop losses," an official said.
Besides, the prevailing soaring prices of rice in both the domestic and international markets have also encouraged the local rice growers to boot their crop output, the official noted.
Unless any untoward natural disaster takes place, the country is expected to harvest yet another 'bumper' crop in the current Aman season after achieving the largest ever 'Boro' output, which is estimated to be higher than the 17.5-million tonnes of the official target, officials observed.
They also said the government has set the rice production target at 13.7 million tonnes for the current Aman season following a significant breakthrough in the harvest of the latest 'Boro' crop.
This year's target is nearly 3.3-million tonnes up from the last year's actual production and 0.7 million tonnes higher than the last year's target,
About 80 per cent of the targetted land are expected to come under the cultivation of high-yielding variety (HYV) and hybrid crops this year, which could give a boost to the overall output.
Official sources, however, said farmers have successfully prepared their seedbeds throughout the country as no major crisis of seeds has yet been reported.
An Agriculture Ministry official said the government has also taken necessary steps including ensuring a smooth supply of fertilisers for helping the farmers achieve a good Aman production.
When asked, an official said the government is taking necessary steps to ensure an adequate supply of urea fertiliser to the Aman growers, taking the allegations about its supply shortage in some areas into consideration.
Terming the current Aman cropping season as one of the favourable ones in many years, they have expressed the hope that the country is expected to witness a better rice output this year.
"We are quite optimistic about the achievement of both the cultivation and production targets in the current Aman season," a senior official of the agriculture ministry said.
The government has earmarked over 5.82 million hectares of land to come under Aman plantation this year, the official said.
The Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) has already reported that more than 55 per cent of the total targetted land has come under Aman cultivation, which will continue throughout the current month.
Referring to the DAE's field-level information, a senior official said: "Hopefully, the country is set to achieve this year's Aman cultivation target."
Both the farmers and the government's agriculture agencies have given special attention to harvesting a robust Aman crop this year following a major shortfall in the last year's Aman production, caused by two successive floods and a super cyclone 'Sidr' that hit the country's southwestern coastal districts on November 15, 2007.
Due to the series of natural calamities, the country's Aman output fell to about 9.6 million tonnes last year against the target of 13 million tonnes.
"Farmers across the country have made extra efforts to boost their Aman production for recouping their last year's crop losses," an official said.
Besides, the prevailing soaring prices of rice in both the domestic and international markets have also encouraged the local rice growers to boot their crop output, the official noted.
Unless any untoward natural disaster takes place, the country is expected to harvest yet another 'bumper' crop in the current Aman season after achieving the largest ever 'Boro' output, which is estimated to be higher than the 17.5-million tonnes of the official target, officials observed.
They also said the government has set the rice production target at 13.7 million tonnes for the current Aman season following a significant breakthrough in the harvest of the latest 'Boro' crop.
This year's target is nearly 3.3-million tonnes up from the last year's actual production and 0.7 million tonnes higher than the last year's target,
About 80 per cent of the targetted land are expected to come under the cultivation of high-yielding variety (HYV) and hybrid crops this year, which could give a boost to the overall output.
Official sources, however, said farmers have successfully prepared their seedbeds throughout the country as no major crisis of seeds has yet been reported.
An Agriculture Ministry official said the government has also taken necessary steps including ensuring a smooth supply of fertilisers for helping the farmers achieve a good Aman production.
When asked, an official said the government is taking necessary steps to ensure an adequate supply of urea fertiliser to the Aman growers, taking the allegations about its supply shortage in some areas into consideration.