BSS, Netrakona :
The farmers of the district are expecting a bumper production of Aman this year as they have finally cultivated the paddy on 1, 38,135 hectors of land in the district exceeding the cultivation target fixed at 1,27,771 hectors of land.
Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) office sources said the target of producing the T-Aman rice was fixed at 3.5 lakhs tons. Now, the growers are expecting to harvest additional 25,000 tons of the rice than the production target.
The farmers could exceed the cultivation target due to favorable climate condition, supply of adequate quantity of improved quality Aman seeds, distribution of fertilizers from different state-run agencies including the BADC and BCIC.
The growers successfully protected their cultivated Aman paddy from various pest attacks and other diseases by applying the integrated pest management (IPM) methods following the suggestions of the crop specialists of the DAE.
The deputy director of DAE Bilash Chandra Paul said from the beginning of the T-Aman season, the crops specialists and field-workers of the DAE Netrakona continued rendering field-level services to the Aman cultivators to let them know about the modern methods of Aman cultivation for boosting its production reducing the production costs.
Mr. Paul also said over 3.75 lakhs tonnes of T-Aman rice are expected to be produced in the district this season.
BSS from Faridpur adds: Farmers of this district are expecting a good harvest of Aman paddy during the current season.
The farmers finally cultivated 39,022 hectares of land during this Aman season exceeding the target set by Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE).
The DAE’s original target of the cultivation of Aman paddy was fixed at 26,500 hectares for HYV transplanted Aman and 7,000 hectares for local variety bringing the total to 33,500 hectares.
But the inspired farmers helped by favorable weather, availability of fertilizer and other inputs in time exceeding the target.
The DAE sources said that 103,123 tonnes of clean rice are expected this season from the cultivated Aman paddy if everything goes well before harvesting.
The DAE is expecting the production of 2.80 tonnes of HYV Aman per hectare and 1.50 tonnes of local variety.
The DAE source said that the condition of the crop in the field is very much satisfactory though at least 20 percent crop was damaged by this years flood. Within a fortnight harvesting will start everywhere in the district.
Meanwhile, farmers are now busy in collecting sickle and other crop cutting instruments from local markets to use those in harvesting the paddy.
