Rice production looks to make a turnaround

The almost stalled growth of the country's crop production observed over the last couple of fiscal years is likely to end in the current fiscal, officials said making an estimate banking on the record rice output achieved in immediate past Aman season. Rice outputs from both the Aman and the Aus seasons in the fiscal increased significantly compared to that of the previous fiscal, and the country can also expect a boost in the output from the ongoing Boro season as the acreage target has already been exceeded, they said. Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) has recently disclosed the final data on Aman production in the current fiscal (2013-2014) which showed that despite a slight decrease in the acreage of Aman, the production stood 15.3 million (130.23 lakh) tones, a 0.96 percent increase compared to that of the fiscal 2012-2013. According to the satellite image-based calculation by Bangladesh Space Research and Remote Sensing Organisation (Sparso), the Aman acreage achieved this fiscal was 5.33 million hectares, which is slightly lower than the acreage of the previous fiscal, said BBS deputy director (agriculture wing) Bidhan Baral. Last year, Aman rice production was over 12.8 million tonnes from 5.6 million hectares that means the yield was 2.29 tonnes per hectare. "This year per hectare yield has increased to 2.357 tonnes, thanks to the cultivation of local high yielding rice varieties (HYV)," he said. "The overall acreage has reduced, but increase in per hectare yield has helped boost the production," he added, according to UNB.