Jhenaidah Correspondent :
As the harvesting of new transplanted Aman (T -Aman) has started in Jhenaidah, the day labourers are happy with the daily labour prices while the farmers expressed their dissatisfaction over low paddy price in the market.
The farmers in the district have been hiring a day labourer at Tk 400 to 450 against Tk 300 a few days back but the rate went high when the harvesting was started in the second week on November.
The farmers have been facing troubles as they were not i a position to bring their newly harvested T- Aman paddy at an early date.
Further, the farmers in the district had incurred a loss when their plots were affected by leaf folder and bacterial leaf blast at most of the areas.
The farmers said, a good number of T Aman plots were affected by the leaf folder and bacterial leaf blast, better known as BLB at Khulumbaria, Madla, Manaharpur, Dudsar, Bhatai, Malmali, Satgachhi and other villages in Sailkupa and Defolbaria, Rajapur and some other villages of Jhenaidah Sadar upazila.
The farmers tried to kill the pests of leaf folder and sprayed chemical insecticides as per the advise of the fffield level activists of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) i the district. But it could not bring satisfactory resuslt for the farmers.
Farmer Abdul Quddus, 43, of village Bhatai Bazer under Sailkupa upazila said, he had transplanted T- Aman varieties of paddy on his three bihgas (130 decimals), out of his total 10 bighas of land in the current transplanted Aman season. He was expecting at least 90 maunds of paddy in the season. But due to attack of the leaf folder and BLB, the production might decrease at least 10 per cent.
Department of Agriculture Extension in Jhenaidah office sources said, the farmers in the district had brought about 97,228 hectares of land as against targeted 96,901 hectares of land under the transplanting Aman paddy in the season.
Sailkupa upazila agriculture officer of the DAE Bijoy Krishna Halder when contacted said the attack of leaf folder and bacterial leaf blast was not so much. The field level staffs of the DAE had advised the farmers to follow hand picking of pests, mechanical control of pest and use light trap of the rice plots to reduce the attack.
The attack was below the economic threshold level which could not affect the gross production in the district.
Deputy Director of the DAE in Jhenaidah Shah Akramul Haque when contacted said, they were hopeful about the achievement of 5.5 tones on a hectare on an average.
Following the excessive rate of the daily labourers, the deputy director said, the farmers could be more benefited if the price of paddy could be increased.
Above all, the farmers in the district were expecting a good harvest in the Transplanted Aman season as the climate was most favorite in the season.
The deputy director had blamed the least presence of the organic matter in soil as the farming land requires at least five per cent organic matter in soil, while the presence of the organic substances in the soil of the south-western districts was about one per cent.
Further, the farmers were not enough aware about insufficient milk formation in the paddy grains.
If the DAE could be informed in time, they could suggest the farmers taking timely steps to face any troubles immediately, deputy director said.
