Boro plantation acreage surpasses official target
Saturday, 28 March 2009
S M Jahangir
The country's overall Boro rice plantation acreage has surpassed the official target by over 0.2 million hectares, brightening the prospect of achieving a record yield this season.
About 5.9 million hectares of land have come under Boro cultivation this season against the target of 4.67 million hectares, a senior agriculture ministry official said, referring to the latest field-level reports of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE).
"Boro has been cultivated on a record area of land, raising the hope for achieving a bumper rice output this season also," said the official.
With the rise in Boro cropping area by more than 0.2 million hectares, the country's rice production is expected to cross the official target this season, officials said.
The DAE earlier set the country's Boro-rice production target at 18 million.
"If the weather remains favourable the country's Boro output is expected to hit 20 million tonnes in the current season," said a senior official.
Starting from mid-January the plantation of Boro took place across the country until March 15, the DAE sources said.
Also terming the overall condition of standing plants 'healthy and well-grown' in most of the rice cropping areas, they said an increased areas of land has come under the cultivation of hybrid crop, the per hectare yield of which is much higher than that of existing high-yielding variety (HYV) crops.
Also admitting some disruptions in the supply of electricity for running irrigation pumps, officials said the government has already taken necessary measurers to ensure an uninterrupted supply of power.
"Taking the current shortage in the supply of electricity into account, the government is also considering various steps to enhance the farmers' access to electricity in the coming peak season for running their irrigation pumps," said an official.
Besides, steps have already been taken to ensure smooth and timely supply of fertlisers, especially urea to the Boro cultivators across the country, the mentioned.
Earlier, a central monitoring cell was set up under the Ministry of Agriculture to oversee the distribution arrangements of fertilisers, they said.
Inspired by bumper crops -- Boro and Aman -- in the past consecutive seasons, the local farmers are making extra efforts to maintain the trend in the current Boro season also, officials said.
According to the DAE figures, the country produced a record 17.8 million tonnes of Boro in the last season while the Aman production has been projected at nearly 13 million tonnes.
Last year, Boro crop was planted on 4.41 million hectares of land against the government-targeted 45 million hectares, they mentioned.
Meanwhile, a recent visit to some northern parts - the country's major rice growing areas -- revealed that the prospect for current Boro crop was better than that of last year's output.
Expressing their satisfaction of the condition of standing plants, farmers of Bogra and Rangpur districts were expecting higher per-acreage yield from their planted Boro crop than the last year's output.
"In the last Boro season I harvested 18 maunds of paddy from one bigha of land, but this year I expect 20 maunds of paddy from the same land unless my crop is hit by any natural calamity," said Md. Alamgir Hossain of Tonipara village under Bogra district recently.
The country's overall Boro rice plantation acreage has surpassed the official target by over 0.2 million hectares, brightening the prospect of achieving a record yield this season.
About 5.9 million hectares of land have come under Boro cultivation this season against the target of 4.67 million hectares, a senior agriculture ministry official said, referring to the latest field-level reports of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE).
"Boro has been cultivated on a record area of land, raising the hope for achieving a bumper rice output this season also," said the official.
With the rise in Boro cropping area by more than 0.2 million hectares, the country's rice production is expected to cross the official target this season, officials said.
The DAE earlier set the country's Boro-rice production target at 18 million.
"If the weather remains favourable the country's Boro output is expected to hit 20 million tonnes in the current season," said a senior official.
Starting from mid-January the plantation of Boro took place across the country until March 15, the DAE sources said.
Also terming the overall condition of standing plants 'healthy and well-grown' in most of the rice cropping areas, they said an increased areas of land has come under the cultivation of hybrid crop, the per hectare yield of which is much higher than that of existing high-yielding variety (HYV) crops.
Also admitting some disruptions in the supply of electricity for running irrigation pumps, officials said the government has already taken necessary measurers to ensure an uninterrupted supply of power.
"Taking the current shortage in the supply of electricity into account, the government is also considering various steps to enhance the farmers' access to electricity in the coming peak season for running their irrigation pumps," said an official.
Besides, steps have already been taken to ensure smooth and timely supply of fertlisers, especially urea to the Boro cultivators across the country, the mentioned.
Earlier, a central monitoring cell was set up under the Ministry of Agriculture to oversee the distribution arrangements of fertilisers, they said.
Inspired by bumper crops -- Boro and Aman -- in the past consecutive seasons, the local farmers are making extra efforts to maintain the trend in the current Boro season also, officials said.
According to the DAE figures, the country produced a record 17.8 million tonnes of Boro in the last season while the Aman production has been projected at nearly 13 million tonnes.
Last year, Boro crop was planted on 4.41 million hectares of land against the government-targeted 45 million hectares, they mentioned.
Meanwhile, a recent visit to some northern parts - the country's major rice growing areas -- revealed that the prospect for current Boro crop was better than that of last year's output.
Expressing their satisfaction of the condition of standing plants, farmers of Bogra and Rangpur districts were expecting higher per-acreage yield from their planted Boro crop than the last year's output.
"In the last Boro season I harvested 18 maunds of paddy from one bigha of land, but this year I expect 20 maunds of paddy from the same land unless my crop is hit by any natural calamity," said Md. Alamgir Hossain of Tonipara village under Bogra district recently.