Cultivation of 2-rice paddy develops huge interest among farmers

JHENIDAH, Dec 14: Cultivation of 2-rice paddy variety in Kaliganj upazila of Jhenidah has developed a great interest among different types of people across the country recently.
As the indigenous paddy species contains two pieces of rice in a single paddy, it is finer than other country varieties in Bangladesh.
Md. Mokbul Hossain (54), a versatile man of Maheshwarchand village under Niayamatpur uinon of Kaliganj upazila in Jhenidah district has become successful in growing the variety after several efforts.
Farmer Makbul said, hearing about his inquisitive trend of mind, the director of an NGO AB called him to Magura district headquarter and gave him 20 grams of paddy seeds six years back to cultivate them on his land experimentally.
Since then he had been planting the paddy sometimes on higher land and at times on lower land. The paddy did not grow well on elevated land.
However, this year he planted it on a 2-decimal marshy land beside his homestead and got around 50 kgs of paddy.
Now hundreds of curious people from in and around the district are coming to his house to see the paddy he produced.
Makbul Hossain told The Financial Express that despite him being an uneducated man with no farming land of his own, he had been working hard having a mission to try to sustain the indigenous types of crops, which are on the verge of extinction.
Against the demand of the people for the paddy seeds, he supplied them to various places, including Dinajpur, Chuadanga, Chowgacha, Jessore, Manikgonj and Dhaka though courier service.
Besides, some government officials and aborigine farmers from other districts showed an interest to collect seeds from him for tilling the type on their land.
Keeping a certain amount of seeds for his own use, the peasant is selling them for Tk. 100 per kg.
Deputy Director of Department of Agriculture Extension, Jhenidah Shah Md. Akramul Haque told the FE that they had sent 400 grams of rice as a sample with a report on the characteristics of the paddy to the Director of Field Servicing Wing of DAE in Dhaka for taking further steps regarding development of the variety.
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