Tk 100m incentive to boost output during Aman season

The government is dispensing an incentive of Tk 100 million to the farmers in 31 districts to help them boost production in the ongoing Aman season.

Nearly  0.1 million farmers, who incurred losses last year for sudden hailstorm and plant mite, will get the incentive as seed, DAP (Diammonium Phosphate) and MOP (Muriate of Potash) fertiliser, officials said.

More than 50,000 million farmers, who will grow African rice variety Nerica, will get seed and fertiliser worth Tk 990 while another 0.05 million farmers who are growing HYV Aman varieties will get inputs worth Tk 790 each.

Growers in 31 districts, who are interested in Nerica will get seed 10 kg, DAP 20 kg and MOP 10 kg while HYV growers in 21 districts will get seed 5 kg and same volumes of fertiliser.  

Additional secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) Anwar Faruqe told the FE a total 758.06 tonnes of seed, 2034.44 tonnes of DAP and 1017.24 tonnes of MOP fertiliser will be distributed to the farmers.

He said the government is expecting 40,000 tonnes of additional harvest by providing the incentive.

"The farmers' list will be made jointly by Upazila Assistant Agricultural Officer, Upazila Agriculture Rehabilitation Committee member and Union Parishad Chairman or a member," he said.

However, production of Aman crop, the second-largest source of food grain in the country, made record output of 13.023 million tonnes in FY'14.

The output target for FY'15 has been set at 13.5 million tonnes on 5.6 million hectares, according to the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE).

Significant increase in yield per hectare helped achieve a 0.96 per cent growth in the last fiscal year compared with the previous fiscal, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) data showed.

Overall rice production was 33.77 million tonnes in FY '13 and the target for the FY'14 was 34.5 million tones.