Maize cultivation continues in northern region

RANGPUR, Jan 11 (BSS): Cultivation of maize continues in full swing in the northern region where a target of producing over 1.34 million tonnes of the cereal crop has been fixed from over 0.19 million hectares land for this Rabi season.
The enthusiastic framers have so far brought around sixty-five per cent of the targeted land under maize farming as sowing of the seed still continues and the farming target might exceed during this season.
According to Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) sources, the farmers have put maximum emphasis large- scale farming of maize after getting repeated bumper production and lucrative price in recent years.
The char people have been showing keen interests on farming maize on more land as they earned a huge profit to lead better life and change fortune in recent years through farming the cash crops in their sandy and barren char lands.
The government has fixed an all-time record target of producing 2.17 million tonne maize from 0.30 million hectares of land in the country during this Rabi season.
The fixed national target for this season is higher by 0.18 million tonnes than the fixed countrywide target of producing 1.99 million tonne maize from 0.27 million hectares of land last season.
Under the programme, 1.34 million tonnes of maize will be produced from over 0.19 million hectares of land in the northern region alone, which is 62.09 per cent of the fixed national production target of 2.17 million tonnes of the crop this season.