Gaibandha Correspondent :
Boro paddy procurement drive of Department mof Food has begun in Gobindaganj upazila in the district on Wednesday amid much enthusiasm to the farmers.
Office sources said the government has set a target to purchase a total of 4,321 tonnes of paddy from the farmers directly of Gobindaganj upazila in the district during the current Boro season.
Gobindaganj UNO Abdul Hannan formally inaugurated the procurement drive at the godown of local supply depot (LSD) at Golapbag area of the upazila town in the afternoon by cutting a red tape as the chief guest.
District controller of food M. Amzad Hossain, upazila food controller
Abdur Rahim, officer-in-charge of LSD Mohammad Abdullah, president of Rice Mills Owners Association, upazila unit, Shafiqul Islam and political leader including the journalists were present on the occasion.
District controller of food M. Azmad Hossain said as many as 18,412 tonnes of Boro paddy would be procured from 11 purchasing centers of all the seven upazilas in the district this year.
Per kg of paddy was being purchased from the farmers at Tk 23 this year,he said adding that six tonnes of paddy were purchased from the farmers of the upazila on the inaugural day.
BSS from Panchagarh adds: Harvesting of Boro paddy has been continuing in full swing in the district with an excellent yield rate.
Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) office sources said farmers of the district cultivated Boro paddy on 33,000 hectares of land in all the five upazilas with a production target of 1,34,700 tonnes of rice .
Of the total, 10,000 hectares of land have been brought under the cultivation in Sadar upazila, 8,200 hectares in Debiganj upazila, 5,300 hectares in Boda upazila, 6 hectares in Atowary upazila and 3,500 hectares in Tetulia Upazila . Farmers cultivated different varieties of Boro including BRRI 28, BRRI 29, BARRI 33, BARRI 45, BARRI 50, Agro-14, Rajkumar, Rupashi Bangla and Jagaroni, DAE office said.
Farmers of the district are expecting a bumper production of Boro paddy this year as they are getting at least 22-24 mounds of paddy from a bigha of land.
Deputy Director (DD), DAE, Panchagarh Md, Rafiqul Islam told BSS that their field-level officers were motivating the farmers to adopt the modern technological support to boost the production of the paddy.
Bumper Boro output achieved
Khulna Correspondent reports: Farmers and agriculture officials are expecting bumper Boro production in nine upazilas in the district in the current season.
Boro production in the district is expected to stand around 2, 04,353 tones, according to the Department of the Agriculture Extension (DAE) Office.
A total of 50,627 hectares land has been brought under Boro cultivation in the current season and harvesting is nearing completion. Titas Mondal of village Venderkot under Batiaghata upazila said he has already finished harvesting and the production is satisfactory.
Another farmer Habibur Rahman of Suterkhali village of the same upazila said that he bagged good production.
Expressing satisfaction over the bumper production Kazi Amanullah, a farmer of village Mechoghona of Dumuria upazila said, “I have collected 12 to 13 maunds of paddy per bigha of land ,whereas I got 10 maunds from the same amount of land last year.”
Deputy Director of the DAE Abdul Latif said the crop grew well in favorable climate condition and harvesting is almost complete in nine upazilas of the district. He hoped to see bumper production of Boro this year. He said harvesting of Boro from 51,120 hectares of land has already been completed.
He said that Agri-loans to the marginal farmers from different banks including Krishi Bank, distribution of diesel and fertilizers subsidy and smooth electricity supply for irrigation contributed to the bumper production of Boro.
DAE had set the target to cultivate 170 tones of local, 125,735 tones of high and 78,276 tones of hybrid yielding varieties of Boro , he disclosed.
