Ishwardi (Pabna) Correspondent :
For the first time in the country, Boro Paddy has been cultivated as a companion crop of sugarcane. Ishwardi-based Bangladesh Sugar-crop Research Institute (BSRI) has started cultivating paddy using technology for the first time after cultivating vegetables and spices as a companion crop of sugarcane. One kg of paddy production consumes two and a half thousand liters of water. And sugarcane is drought tolerant. Scientists at Sugarcrop have discovered a way to cultivate crops with these two opposite characteristics. Success has come by planting this joint crop experimentally. Yield was also found to be good, said the project in-charge. Anisur Rahman. Scientists say that it is possible to cultivate sugarcane and paddy together in both bed method and direct cultivation. And since there is a system of conserving surface water, there is no need for ground water. It will also reduce fuel and electricity costs. Agricultural scientists think that if this invented method and method can be spread, positive changes will take place in the agricultural sector of the country.
BSRI Director General, Amjad Hossain said that it has been calculated that this method will reduce the cost of cultivation by one-third. Farmers will benefit from this. This year we have succeeded. Inshallah next year we will take this method to the farmers field.
The farmers said that if two crops could be planted in this condition, we would benefit. If we can cultivate paddy in less water then it is more beneficial for us. The cost of sugarcane covers two-thirds of the cost of paddy.
Meanwhile, on Friday BSRI organized a seminar on this technology in the Field Day and in the auditorium. The chief guest was Kamala Ranjan Das, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture. BSRI Director General presided over . Special guests were Ashraf Ali, Director, Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation, Dr. Director of Pulses Research.
Mohiuddin, Taufiqul Alam, Director, Department of Agricultural Extension, Fazlur Rahman, Chief Scientific Officer, Rice Research. The original article was presented by the inventor Anisur Rahman.
