Govt to provide Tk33.20cr incentives for Aman production

Staff Reporter :
The government has decided to distribute Tk33.20 crore as incentive among the farmers to increase the cultivation and production of Aman crop this year.
The Aman season, the second-largest production period of rice, dependents on rainfall that begins in June-July after the Boro season.
However, the incentive will be given through the Ministry of Agriculture to 4.90 lakh small and marginal farmers to encourage them to grow Aman paddy across the country and the farmers will get free seeds and fertilisers under the programme.

According to Information Officer of the Ministry of Agriculture, a farmer will get 5kg of high-yielding (Ufshi) variety of Ropa Aman seeds, 10 kg of DAP and 10 kg of MOP fertiliser, free of cost, to cultivate on one bigha of land.

The government has already issued an order in this regard, he added.
This incentive is being given from the allocation for agriculture rehabilitation assistance in the regular budget of the Ministry of Agriculture.
These incentives will be distributed at the field level soon.

Meanwhile, the meteorologists forecastedthat this year’s Aman season is likely to face a drought because of a prolonged dry spell in the May-July period with 20-30 percent less rainfall – just when farmers will start planting paddy. Aman rice grown during the rainy season isthe second biggest crop after irrigation-based boro produced in the dry season.
After the Boro season, the largest amount of paddy production comes from Aman which plays a major role in the country’s food security. Last year, the Boro season produced around 2.02 crore tonnes of rice. The target of 1.55 crore tonnes of rice in the Aman season was also met, claimed the agriculture ministry.