Farmers busy transplanting Boro paddy seedlings in Netrakona, Rangpur

BSS, Netrakona :

Farmers are passing their busy times for transplantation of Boro paddy seedlings on their farm lands in all the ten upazilas of the district during the current month of January.
Officials of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) said, the DAE has designed a massive programme to produce 7,76,775 tonnes of clean Boro paddy from 1,84,470 hectares of land in the district during the current Rabi season.
Under the program, the farmers will produce 2,04,475 tonnes of hybrid variety of Boro rice from 41,300 hectares of land, 5,72,000 tonnes of high yielding variety (HYV) of Boro rice from 1,43, 000 hectares and 300 tonnes of local variety from 170 hectares of land.
Meanwhile, the Boro cultivators have transplanted the Boro rice seedlings on 1,51,409 hectares of land in the district.
The government has provided agricultural incentives to small and marginal farmers of the district to make them capable to run Boro cultivation without facing any problem.
Talking to this BSS correspondent, Deputy Director (DD) of DAE Netrakona Mohammad Nuruzzaman said, under the agriculture incentive giving program, the government has already distributed 240 tonnes of improved variety of Boro seeds , 320 tonnes of MOP and 320 tonnes of DAP fertilizers among the 72,000 small and marginal farmers.
Apart from this, the government has ensured proper supply of improved quality Boro seeds, fertilizers and other irrigation and agricultural equipment to the door-steps of the Boro cultivators through different state-run agencies including BADC and BCIC to help them, he said.
“The government has also been ensuring un-interrupted supply of electricity through power development board (PDB) and rural electrification board (REB) to keep the irrigation machineries including deep tube wells and shallow tube wells of the farmers operative round the clock”, he informed.
Following directives of the government, different state-run commercial banks including Bangladesh Krishi Bank are disbursing Boro crops loan among the Boro cultivators to assist them for running their Boro cultivation network without facing financial crisis, the DD said.
BSS from Rangpur adds: Transplantation of seedlings of Boro rice has gained full momentum creating huge jobs for farm-laborers and making farmers busy amid an easing cold wave situation in Rangpur agriculture region.  
Officials of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) said the government has taken ample steps to assist farmers to make the Boro rice farming program a success aiming at further enhancing rice output during the current Rabi season.
“Transplantation of Boro rice seedling is nearing completion in low-lying and char areas as the process has got full momentum in the mainland,” Additional Director of the DAE’s Rangpur region Agriculturist Mohammad Shah Alam said.
The government through the DAE has fixed a target of producing 22,30,219 tonnes of clean Boro rice (33,45,329 tonnes of paddy) from 5,07,050 hectares of land for all five districts in the region during the current Rabi season.
 “Meanwhile, enthusiastic farmers have already transplanted Boro rice
seedlings on over 1,02,000 hectares of land or 20.12 percent against the fixed farming target in the region till Sunday,” he said.
The DAE and other agri-related organizations are providing latest
technologies to farmers to increase rice production at reduced costs and further strengthening food security amid the global crises caused by the
Russia-Ukraine War and Covid-19 pandemic.  
Meanwhile, farmers have prepared Boro rice seedbeds on 26,386 hectares of land exceeding the fixed target of preparing the same on 23,176 hectares of land by 13.85 percent in the region.
The DAE with other related organizations, Northern Electricity Supply Company Limited and Rural Electrification Board are ensuring smooth supply of seeds, fertilizers and electricity to farmers to ensure smooth Boro paddy cultivation.
 “We are inspiring farmers to adopt conservation agriculture (CA)-based technologies like Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) method in farming Boro paddy to lessen lifting of underground water for irrigation and increase rice output at reduced cost,” Alam said.
With little improvement in the cold wave situation during the past couple of days, farmers have accelerated transplantation of Boro rice seedlings on their crop lands to complete the process on time in the region.
After getting all necessary assistance and facilities from the government, enthusiastic farmers are expected to exceed the fixed Boro rice farming target in Rangpur, Gaibandha, Kurigram, Nilphamari and Lalmonirhat districts of the region this season.
Deputy Director of the DAE for Rangpur region Agriculturist Md Mahbubar Rahman said transplantation of Boro rice seedlings is nearing completion in the low-lying char lands, beels and riverine areas in the region.
“Farmers are targeting to bring more low-lying char lands, beels and riverine areas under Boro rice farming to complete its harvest before commencement of the next rainy season,” he added.
Agriculturist Dr Md Abdul Mazid, who got the Independent Medal 2018 (food security), expressed satisfaction over the ample steps taken by the government to assist farmers in all possible ways for making the Boro rice farming a success.
He suggested farmers for large-scale adoption of AWD irrigation method and ensuring proper agronomic management to get maximum Boro rice yield at reduced cost saving huge underground water and fuel cost for irrigation.
Farmers, Ariful Haque, Azizur Rahman, Farid Hossain Lutfar Rahman and Manik Mian of different villages in Rangapur Sadar told BSS that they are continuing transplantation of seedlings on their croplands to complete the process by February 15 next.