Maize production to exceed target this season
Yasir Wardad | Friday, 8 April 2011
Yasir Wardad
The country is expected to achieve a surplus production of maize this season, officials said. This will be helpful for the poultry, fisheries and livestock sector, claimed industry insiders. "The production of maize, a granular crop of the country, is going to surpass the winter season target of 1.43 million tonnes," a high official of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) told the FE Wednesday. Besides this, the summer season will start after the current harvest and the target of summer yield has been fixed at 212,000 tonnes in 40,000 hectares of land, he said. "Due to favourable climate and rising demand of the crop in the poultry, fisheries and livestock sector the farmers are now very much interested in cultivating maize", he said. He also said this year the farmers got quality seeds while there was no crisis of fertiliser or water for irrigation. "Our upazila offices have been reporting that the production per hectare was much higher than the target. So, we are expecting a bumper output this year," he claimed. The director general of the seed wing of agriculture ministry, Anwar Faruque, said the loan provided by the government at only 2.0 per cent interest also helped the farmers a lot to boost the production. According to the Feed Industries Association of Bangladesh (FIAB), the local demand of maize was 2.4 million tonnes in 2009-10 and the country fulfilled 50 per cent (1.2 million tonnes) of the demand. The coordinator of FIAB, Dr Md Rezaul Haque told the FE if the country could have met the total demand of maize locally, it would have immensely reduced the feed price". He said: "If maize price is increased by Tk 1.00 at per kg, then the feed price will increase by Tk 0.55 per kg. The global trend also indicates that the maize price would be increasing steadily in near future. So, the higher production of the crop will be of much help to the agro and livestock industries." According to the DAE Jessore Region, nearly 52,000 hectares of land was earmarked for maize cultivation in 10 districts against 44,295 hectares of the last year where 334,320 tonnes of maize was produced. Additional Director of DAE, Jessore Region, Md Shafiur Rahman said: "The harvest is going on and we are getting 7.5 to 8.0 tonnes of maize per hectare from Meherpur and Chuadanga which is much higher than the target." "We expect that the production will exceed the target of 377,213 tonnes," Shafiur said. According to DAE Rangpur Region, 72,000 hectares of land has been brought under maize cultivation in eight districts and the production target has been fixed at 649,971 tonnes. Additional director, DAE, Rajshahi Region Dr Kalidash Debnath expressed the hope that the production would go beyond the target of 230,130 tonnes in 22,906 hectares of land.
The country is expected to achieve a surplus production of maize this season, officials said. This will be helpful for the poultry, fisheries and livestock sector, claimed industry insiders. "The production of maize, a granular crop of the country, is going to surpass the winter season target of 1.43 million tonnes," a high official of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) told the FE Wednesday. Besides this, the summer season will start after the current harvest and the target of summer yield has been fixed at 212,000 tonnes in 40,000 hectares of land, he said. "Due to favourable climate and rising demand of the crop in the poultry, fisheries and livestock sector the farmers are now very much interested in cultivating maize", he said. He also said this year the farmers got quality seeds while there was no crisis of fertiliser or water for irrigation. "Our upazila offices have been reporting that the production per hectare was much higher than the target. So, we are expecting a bumper output this year," he claimed. The director general of the seed wing of agriculture ministry, Anwar Faruque, said the loan provided by the government at only 2.0 per cent interest also helped the farmers a lot to boost the production. According to the Feed Industries Association of Bangladesh (FIAB), the local demand of maize was 2.4 million tonnes in 2009-10 and the country fulfilled 50 per cent (1.2 million tonnes) of the demand. The coordinator of FIAB, Dr Md Rezaul Haque told the FE if the country could have met the total demand of maize locally, it would have immensely reduced the feed price". He said: "If maize price is increased by Tk 1.00 at per kg, then the feed price will increase by Tk 0.55 per kg. The global trend also indicates that the maize price would be increasing steadily in near future. So, the higher production of the crop will be of much help to the agro and livestock industries." According to the DAE Jessore Region, nearly 52,000 hectares of land was earmarked for maize cultivation in 10 districts against 44,295 hectares of the last year where 334,320 tonnes of maize was produced. Additional Director of DAE, Jessore Region, Md Shafiur Rahman said: "The harvest is going on and we are getting 7.5 to 8.0 tonnes of maize per hectare from Meherpur and Chuadanga which is much higher than the target." "We expect that the production will exceed the target of 377,213 tonnes," Shafiur said. According to DAE Rangpur Region, 72,000 hectares of land has been brought under maize cultivation in eight districts and the production target has been fixed at 649,971 tonnes. Additional director, DAE, Rajshahi Region Dr Kalidash Debnath expressed the hope that the production would go beyond the target of 230,130 tonnes in 22,906 hectares of land.