Jhenaidah Correspondent :The farmers in Jhenaidah are likely to produce at least 510,000 tons of rice from 150,000 hectares of land in the current transplanting Aman (TAman) season. Better and increasing trend of the prices of paddy in the season has been encouraging them bring at least 50 per cent additional land under the farming, said, the farmers.The farmers said, they were disheartened during the Aus season as the price of the paddy had fallen drastically in the market. Each maund (4o kilogram) of paddy was sold between Taka 500 and 560 in the market that could not ensure even the minimum production cost of the main cereal crop for the producing farmers.But the increasing trend in price of the paddy was shown since early June this year. Each maund of the paddy has been selling between Taka 750 and 780 in the markets of the district in recent days, they said.Farmer Abdul Mannan of Kamarkundu village of Jhenaidah Sadar upazila when contacted said, he prepared the seed beds for four bighas of land under the T Aman farming in the season as against two bighas last season. The optimum price of the same encouraged him to bring additional land for the farming, Abdul Mannan said.Seed vendor Rashidul Hasan Mia at Jhenaidah when contacted said, the area of TAman faming might be at least 50 per cent additional in the season as the farmers once again have been leaning towards the Aman farming. Better prices regained the confidence of the farmers once again, Hasan said.Office sources of the department of agriculture extension (DAE) in Jhenaidah said, the department had fixed target producing paddy on 96,901 hectares of land under the T Aman farming in the current season. The production rate of rice on each hectare was expected 2.72 tones. The source admitted that the farmers on their 96,901 hectares of land produced at total of 329,119 tones of paddy at the rate of 3.4 tones on each hectare last season. But they were disheartened when the prices of the paddy fallen drastically in the market,The DAE sources said, the proposed target for T Aman farming in the seasons was 21,705 hectares in Jhenaidah Sadar, 17,330 hectares in Kaliganj, 5,860 hectares in Kotchandpur, 17,780 hectares in Moheshpur, 24,801 hectares in Sailkupa and 9,405 hectares of land in Harinakundu upazila of the district.Deputy Director of the department of agriculture extension in Jhenaidah Shah Akramaul Haque when contacted said, the land of Jhenaidah Sadar, Sailkupa and Moheshpur was suitable for paddy farming. The paddy is the most important cash crop to the farmers. The district is self sufficient in producing cereal crops, vegetables and other crops for past couple of years, the deputy director added.
