UNB, Dhaka :
The almost stalled growth of the country’s crop production observed over the last couple of fiscal years is likely to end in the current fiscal, officials said making an estimate banking on the record rice output achieved in immediate past Aman season.
Rice outputs from both the Aman and the Aus seasons in the fiscal increased significantly compared to that of the previous fiscal, and the country can also expect a boost in the output from the ongoing Boro season as the acreage target has already been exceeded, they said.
Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) has recently disclosed the final data on Aman rice production in the current fiscal (2013-2014) which showed that despite a slight decrease in the acreage of Aman, the production stood 130.23 lakh tonnes, a 0.96 percent increase compared to that of the fiscal 2012-2013.
According to the satellite image-based calculation by Bangladesh Space Research and Remote Sensing Organisation (Sparso), the Aman acreage achieved this fiscal was 53.3 lakh hectares, which is slightly lower than the acreage of the previous fiscal, said BBS deputy director (agriculture wing) Bidhan Baral.
“The overall acreage has reduced, but increase in per hectare yield has helped boost the production,” he said.
Last year, the Aman rice production was 128.97 lakh tonnes from 56.1 lakh hectares that means the yield was 2.29 tonnes per hectare. “This year per hectare yield has increased to 2.357 tonnes, thanks to the cultivation of local high yielding rice varieties (HYV),” he said.
Baral added that the overall rice output, which witnessed a reduction last fiscal year (337.7 lakh tonnes) over its previous fiscal year (338.3 lakh tonnes), is expected to revive this year.
Sources at the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) said the total rice production will increase this year significantly. Besides the record production of Aman, Aus production also marked an increase this year compared to that of last year.
They said Aus production has increased by 7.78 per cent to 23.26 lakh tonnes this fiscal against 21.58 lakh tonnes in the previous one.
Excluding Boro harvest, which will be available by June, the overall rice production has already reached 153.49 lakh tonnes, a 1.95 per cent increase compared to that of the corresponding period of the fiscal 2012-2013, they added. DAE primarily estimates that the Boro acreage has also increased this year.
The government is targeting an output of 189 lakh tonnes from this Boro season, which can easily be achieved in absence of any natural calamity, said the sources.
