Local Aus rice varieties are being popularised in the northern and north-western districts thanks to short duration and stress-tolerant qualities of those species, farmers and officials said.
The farmers, who almost lost their indigenous popular varieties, are now interested in cultivating species including Pariza, Shapahar, Nulia, Dighi, Betor, etc in a fresh manner.
Aus harvest is now going on in full swing in many districts such as Rangpur, Lalmonirhat, Dinajpur, Naogaon, Kurigram Gaibandha, Nilphamari, Rajshahi and elsewhere in the country.
The government has set a target to get 2.4 million tonnes of rice from 1.05 million hectares of land in Aus season in the current financial year (FY'15).
The country got 2.30 million tonnes of rice from Aus season in FY'14, according to the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE).
Excluding few flood affected areas in Kurigram and Gaibandha, farmers are expecting a bumper crop thanks to timely rainfall in June-July period.
Districts level officials of DAE said that in many areas of northern districts, Boro harvest ends in April-May period and farmers move for Aman in July-August.
In between the period, there is a gap of 70 days when the farmers can cultivate rice varieties like Pariza, which gives crop within 70 to 72 days.
Cost for fertiliser and irrigation is comparatively low for those varieties and farmers can preserve seed, said the officials.
The Pariza variety, an indigenous species of Rajshahi district, is now being cultivated in other districts for the last few years.
RDRS (Rangpur Dinajpur Rural Service), a leading NGO in the country, collected the variety from Godagari upazila of Rajshahi district and introduced the rice variety to the farmers of other districts.
Officials of the NGO said that after harvesting Pariza in July-August, farmers can plant Aman crop which could be harvested in November-December period.
RDRS with the help of DAE started cultivation of Pariza in Kurigarm and Gaibandha from 2009.
Agriculture coordinator of RDRS Md Mamunur Rashid said that the country witness rainfall in May-July period which could be used to cultivate short duration Aus varieties.
He also pointed out the country is now witnessing late-flood, which are hitting between August 20 and September 15.
"If you look through the tendencies of last few floods, all those hit the areas in last of August," he said.
"Farmers can harvest Aus crop by July so there is no risk of flood," he said.
Production is also good as a farmer is getting 3.5 tonnes per hectare with an investment of not more than Tk25000, he said.
Mir Md Abdur Razzaque, deputy director, DAE, Gaibandha district said that this year the farmers have cultivated local Pariza variety at above 544 hectares which was less than 40 hectares three years back.
"After harvesting Pariza in July, many farmers have completed Aman cultivation in August prompting many others to follow cultivation of local varieites," he said.
Topu Raihan, director (farm) of Prakritik Krishi, an organisation works on organic farming, said that the government this year have allocated nearly Tk180 million as incentives for Aus farmers who will cultivate alien rice varieties like Nerica.
"There is no single programme or initiative by the government to popularise local climate friendly varieties," he said.
The indigenous Aus varieties were tolerant to drought, flood and also were short duration in quality, he said.
"We have visited many districts in Rangpur and Rajshahi divisions this Aus season. Farmers themselves are taking initiatives to reintroduce their forgotten varieties like Pariza, Shapahar, Betor, Dighi, Nulia etc which are short duration and stress tolerant varieties," he said.
Biodiversity expert Pavel Partho said that the move for extension of Pariza variety is praiseworthy as it would encourage farmers to cultivate other Aus varieties.
"But the promoters of Pariza are prescribing the farmers for using fertiliser and pesticide at a level that they use for high yielding rice varieties,"
"It will not bring anything fruitful. The local Aus varieties should be cultivated in their own way," he said.
He also criticised the decision of using pesticide like carbofuran (granular) in Pariza field as carbofuran are stored in the bottom of water bodies.
"It brings qualitative change in water and kills living creatures there," he added.
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