Some 82 youths including 40 females coming from ethnic minority families were given different income-generating tools including cash taka aimed at boosting their level of confidence through making them self-reliant.
Of them, 30 received sewing machines, 20 electric instruments, 10 instruments for building construction and two hair cutting apparatus while 20 others were given Taka 2,000 in cash each for cattle fattening.
Earlier on, they were imparted practical training on the respective trades and vocations so that they can earn money after the best uses of the training and tools as alternative income sources.
The supports were given on behalf of an anti-poverty initiative at a function held at Nachole Upazila Parishad Hall Room in Chapainawabganj district recently.
Agriculture Sustainable and Socio-economic Development Organisation (ASSEDO) and Tradecraft Exchange are jointly implementing the scheme in association with ‘Fighting Forced Labour with Adivasi and Dalit Communities in South Asia (MUKTEE) Project’ and European Union.
Upazila Chairman Abdul Kader and ASSEDO Executive Director Rabiul Alam attended the function as chief and special guests respectively with Upazila Nirbahi Officer Sabiha Sultana in the chair and distributed the supportive instruments.
Nachole Pourashava Chairman Abdur Rashid Khan, Deputy Director of the Department of Youth Development Jabed Iqbal, Agriculture Officer Bulbul Ahmed, Livestock Officer Sharmin Akter and Union Parishad Chairmen Aminul Haque and Azizur Rahman were present at the ceremony.
Rabiul Alam told the meeting that around 4,000 ethnic minority youths including 2,000 women have been engaged in various income-generating activities in 50 villages of Tanore in Rajshahi and Nachole Upazilas in Chapainawabganj districts with the MUKTEE Project intervention. A total of 1000 people from 2000 households are being brought under need-based training
on various trades and vocations like electrics, mobile, mechanic, sewing, tailoring, computer operating, beautification, driving, carpentry and building construction in phases.
He said the project is aimed to address the systemic and structural vulnerabilities of marginalized agricultural communities for eliminating the menace of child labour.
Farmers urged to boost quality seed production
Agricultural experts at a training session have urged the grassroots farmers to boost the production of quality seeds of paddy and wheat after the best uses of high yielding seeds and modern technologies to feed the gradually rising population in the country.
Terming the quality seed as the precondition to get optimum yield they mentioned various agriculture related research entities have developed high yielding paddy and wheat seeds and time-fitting technologies side by side with transferring those to the farmers.
The farmers concerned should take the responsibility of using the updated varieties and technologies instead of the conventional ones to attain the cherished goal of making the region self-reliant in quality seed production.
The experts came up with the observation while addressing a daylong farmers training titled “Standard Paddy and Wheat Seed Production and Farming of Less-water Consuming Crops” held at Kakonhat office of Barind Multipurpose Development Authority (BMDA) under Godagari Upazila in the district on Tuesday.
BMDA under its ‘Quality Seed Production, Distribution and Farmers Training for Crops Production’ project organized the training attended by around 50 farmers from different villages of the area.
BMDA Executive Engineer Shariful Haque, Director of the project ATM Rafiqul Islam, Assistant Engineers Mustafizur Rahman and AKM Obaidullah and Assistant Manager Monirul Islam conducted the training sessions as resource persons.
The discussants observed that emphasis should be given to the promotion of less-irrigation consuming cereal crops instead of depending on only Irri-Boro farming in Barind area to lessen the gradually mounting pressure on underground water.
They noted that large-scale promotion of less-water consuming crops could be an effective means of mitigating the condition of water crisis in the drought-prone Barind area.
In sideline of the training Rafiqul Islam told BSS that the project is being implemented with the main thrust of increasing production and distribution of quality seed in the project area.
Farmers are being motivated for producing improved seed of local and high yielding variety of paddy and wheat through establishing demonstration plot.
Some 4,000 farmers and 551 staffs concerned were imparted training on
production of quality seed and cultivation of less water consuming crops till
June last. Training of 1,000 more farmers and 149 staffs is expected to
complete by end of this current fiscal, Agriculturist Islam added.
Tender wheat plants growing excellent in Rangpur region RANGPUR, Jan 13, 2020 (BSS) – The tender wheat plants are growing excellent amid favourable weather predicting better production despite a little shortfall in the fixed farming target in Rangpur agriculture region
this season.
Officials of Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) said farmers have finally cultivated wheat on 18,810 hectares of land, 3,324 hectares or 13.07 percent less than the fixed target on 22,050 hectares of land in the region.
The DAE has fixed a target of producing 71,736 tonnes of wheat in all five districts Rangpur, Gaibandha, Kurigram, Lalmonirhat and Nilphamari during this current Rabi season.
Deputy Director of DAE at its regional office Agriculturist Md.
Moniruzzaman said the fixed wheat farming target could not be achieved following crop diversification and farming of maize on more lands in the region like in the previous couple of years
The farmers have cultivated wheat on 18,726 hectares of land, including 2,085 hectares in Rangpur, 3,150 hectares in Gaibandha, 6,806 hectares in Kurigram, 1,480 hectares in Lalmonirhat and 5,205 hectares of land in Nilphamari districts in the region.
“We are expecting a better wheat production as farmers have sowed high
quality, disease resistant and stress tolerant variety wheat seeds on their
crop lands using conservation agriculture (CA)-based technologies,” he said.
The farmers have mostly cultivated high yielding wheat varieties like
‘Bijoy’, ‘Pradip’, ‘Sotabdhi’, BARI Gom25, BARI Gom26, BARI Gom27, BARI Gom28
and BARI Gom29 and the harvesting process will begin from April next.
Talking to BSS, farmers Echhahaq Alim Aiyub Ali, Lokman Hossain and
Monser Ali of different villages here said they are expecting excellent wheat
production as the tender plants growing superbly amid favourable climatic
conditions this season.
Talking to BSS, Senior Coordinator (Agriculture and Environment) of RDRS
Bangladesh Agriculturist Mamunur Rashid said farmers are mostly cultivating
stress tolerant varieties of wheat adopting CA-based technologies to get
better yield at reduced costs.
Additional Director of the DAE for Rangpur region Agriculturist Muhammad
Ali also predicted a better wheat yield adding that necessary assistance were
provided to farmers to expand cultivation of less irrigation water consuming
cereal crops like wheat.
