Country expects 1.35m tonnes of wheat output this year

After a robust production last year, the country is expecting another impressive output of wheat this cropping season thanks to favourable weather condition.
Following the last year's successes, the ministry of agriculture has increased the output target by 24.42 per cent this year compared to last year, officials said.
However, expressing their satisfaction at the condition of the standing wheat plants, officials said this year's wheat production is expected to surpass the target significantly.
Last year the farmers toiled to produce 1.255 million tonnes wheat which was the highest production in last ten years.
The highest wheat production was recorded at 1.9 million tonnes in 1998.   
"We are expecting that the wheat output would exceed the official target as acreage has increased," Deputy Director of the Monitoring Unit at Field Service Wing under DAE Md Rafiqul Hasan told the FE.
"The chilly winter has been prevailing for a long time at the wheat growing hubs mainly in northern regions of Rangpur, Dinajpur and Rajshahi cropping zones which is suitable for wheat production", he said.
However, the government has fixed a target to produce 1.289 million tonnes of wheat on 0.420 million hectares of land this year.
According to the Food Crop Wing under DAE, cultivation has surpassed the target as it reached 0.469 million hectares this year.
"The production will be at least 1.35 million tonnes in the absence of any natural disaster," an official at the Food Crop Wing said.   
The officials said after depression spanning a decade, wheat saw a good harvest last year due to congenial atmosphere and handsome price of wheat.
He said apart from suitable weather, introduction of a few developed seeds by the government research wings had helped attain a sound production last year.
According to DAE, wheat plantation season continues from early November to early December, and the harvest period is from last part of March to first of April.
Additional Director of the DAE, Rangpur Region, Sikander Ali said: "Wheat farming has increased considerably this year compared to last year as many of the farmers, deprived of fair price for the maize and rice crops have shifted to wheat."
He said quality wheat seeds, latest technologies, fertilisers and other inputs have been provided to the farmers which will yield good result.
The official also told the FE that farmers have used high-yielding varieties of seeds developed by the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) -- Bari-19 and Bari-20 and 'Prodip'.
However, dependence on wheat is increasing gradually in the country amid a steady growth in consumption.
The country spent US $343.3 million for importing wheat in the July-October period of the current financial year (FY'14) against $111 million in the same period of FY'13.
Annual import of the second staple is now hovering between 3.5 and 4.0 million tonnes to meet the soaring demand.
The Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) 2010, conducted by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) showed daily per capita wheat consumption swelled to 26.1 grammes in 2010, marking a 115.7 per cent hike, from 12.1gm in 2005.
Local wheat production has declined gradually over the past one decade after hitting a record high of 1.9 million tonnes in the financial year 1998-99.
Experts say that the production will increase gradually in coming years which could help the country cut import cost significantly.