Yasir Wardad
Wheat production hit a 1.35 million tonnes in fiscal year 2014-15 (FY'15), the highest in 12 years, thanks to favourable weather condition and profitable price of the second staple which encouraged many farmers to cultivate the crop.
The good news comes at a time when import of wheat emerged as talk of the country in recent months in the backdrop of allegation that the government brought substandard wheat from Brazil and the topic even went to the higher court.
The farmers of Bangladesh have succeeded in growing nearly one-third of demand for the second staple in the last FY which might help reduce import in coming days, officials said.
The output of FY'15 was 1.5 per cent higher than that of FY'14 when farmers harvested 1.32 million tonnes, and 7.65 per cent higher than that of FY'13 when the yield was 1.254 million tonnes, according to provisional estimates by Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).
Wheat production reached a record high at 1.9 million tonnes in FY 1999.
But later the acreage and production began to fall gradually as many farmers shifted to other winter crops like maize, and vegetables that ensured higher profits.
Wheat acreage, which fell to its lowest level at 0.358 million hectares in FY'12, has started to rise since FY'13.
The acreage rose to 0.436 million hectares in FY'15 from 0.429 million hectares in FY'14 which was 0.416 million FY'13, according to BBS.
Agriculturists and economists said wheat acreage is rising due to farmers' growing interest in the crop following a profitable price of the cereal and low cost of production.
Development of quality seeds by the state run organisations, favourbale weather condition also helped increase wheat production.
Director General of Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) Md Hamidur Rahman said profitable prices and lower production cost of wheat compared to that of maize and Boro have been encouraging farmers to cultivate the grain.
He said the government's purchase of wheat also gave farmers some added incentive.
The Directorate General of Food (DGoF) bought 0.15 million tonnes of wheat at Tk 29 per kilogram from the harvest of FY'15, according to the DGoF.
However, Assistant Director of Department of Agricultural Marketing (DAM) T M Rashed Khan said farmers made Tk 50-60 profit per maund (40 kg) of wheat in the minimum in FY'15 (in the harvesting to marketing period) which was Tk 150-180 per maund in FY'14.
He said the government should involve the farmers directly in the purchasing process to maintain the higher output in the coming years.
Acting Director of the Wheat Research Centre (WRC) under the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) Dr Paritosh Kumar Malaker said besides hike in price and having good weather, quality seeds also contributed to higher yields.
He said in particular, warmer temperature during the reproductive and grain-filling (ripening) periods had a significant negative impact on productivity.
"Minimum daily temperatures (night-time temperatures) had the most significant impact on yield", he said.
He pointed out that farmers want more heat-tolerant wheat varieties in order to prevent temperature-induced yield losses.
"In the last four and a half years, BARI developed six high-yielding heat-tolerant wheat seed varieties to make farmers interested in the crop," he said.
The latest heat-tolerant varieties --- Bari Gom 29 and 30 --- are of short duration and can be cultivated in the areas where winter stays for a short period, he added.
Agriculturists said rising acreage and production might cut Bangladesh's import costs for the grain, the demand for which grows every year owing to rising population, health consciousness and industrial use.
The country needs nearly 4.5 million tonnes of wheat every year, two-thirds of which are imported.
Bangladesh imported 3.78 million tonnes of wheat in the last FY which was 2.68 million tonnes in FY'14, a 41 per cent increase in a year, according to food ministry data.
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