RAJSHAHI, April 28, 2023 (BSS)- Farmers are busy harvesting, segregating,
drying and transporting the cereal crop amid the suitable climatic condition
in the Rajshahi, including its vast Barind and Char (riverbed) areas, for the
last couple of weeks.
 
Maize farming brings a smile to farmers' faces in Rajshahi as they are
becoming financially solvent by cultivating the crop, meeting its growing
demand of the consumers, particularly the poultry, dairy and beef fattening
farmers.

Farmers are delighted with the bumper yield and cherished market price of the
newly harvested maize everywhere in the Rajshahi region.
 
Polash Hossain, 45, a maize farmer of Harishankar Pur village under Godagari
upazila, has cultivated maize on two bighas of land this year expecting that
he will be benefited from the crop as both yield and market price are
lucrative.
 
Hossain said maize grain is being sold at Taka 725 to 730 per mound in the
local market at present.
 
Sarwar Sheikh, 48, another farmer of Char Asariadaha village under the same
upazila, said many of his co-villagers are seen harvesting 45 to 50 maunds of
yield from each bigha of char lands on an average.

Shahadat Hossain, a farmer of Chowbaria village under Godagari upazila, said
he has brought two bighas of land under the maize farming during the current
season.
 
He is very happy with cultivating various less-water consuming crops like
maize.

He said he had to face many troubles to manage water for irrigation on Boro
fields but the maize cultivation takes less water.
 
Hossain said wheat cultivation on per bigha of land needs at least Taka 8,000
and the yield is 14 to 16 maunds. On the contrary, maize farming on one bigha
of land needs Taka 6,500 and the yield is at least 20 to 25 maunds. So, he
cultivated maize on 15 bighas of land this season.

Most of the farmers are happy with the sale price, he added.
 
More than 1,25,8,000 community people of 266,000 households are being
motivated and encouraged towards farming of various less-irrigation consuming
crops including maize to reduce the pressure on underground water in the
Barind area with the intervention of the 'Integrated Water Resource
Management (IWRM)' project.
 
The project is being implemented in around 1,280 drought-hit villages under
39 Union Councils and three municipalities of eight upazilas in Rajshahi,
Naogaon and Chapainawabganj districts since 2014 supported by Switzerland,
said Jahangir Alam Khan, coordinator of the project.

Sub-Assistant Agriculture Officer Atanu Sarker said maize farming has been
gaining popularity here as many people are seen humming towards the cash crop
farming while it has been giving them better yield and lucrative market
price.

Mozder Hossain, deputy director of the Department of Agriculture Extension
(DAE), said there was no scarcity of seeds this time. So, huge quantities of
seeds were distributed among the farmers and they timely completed sowing it,
he added.
 
Over 5.58 lakh tonnes of maize yield are expected to be produced from 52,209
hectares of land in all eight districts under Rajshahi division during the
current harvesting season.

DAE has set the target of producing around 3.25 lakh tonnes of maize from
29,094 hectares of land in four districts of Rajshahi Agricultural Zone while
2.33 lakh tonnes from 23,115 hectares of land in four other districts of
Bogura Agricultural Zone.
 
Shamsul Wadud, additional director of the DAE, here said diversified steps
including distribution of incentives among farmers with providing need-based
training were taken to attain the production target.
 
He said 22,050 small and marginal farmers were given seeds and fertilizers
worth around Taka 90.4 lakh free of cost for the maize farming under the
government's agricultural incentive programme.
 
Chief Scientific Officer of Bangladesh Wheat and Maize Research Institute
(BWMRI) Dr Ilias Hossain said maize is being used in the preparation of
various nutritional foods like corn-well, corn-flex, poultry and animal feed
and fodder and in several industrial products as well.
 
BWMRI has released five high yielding maize varieties and two of those-BARI
Hybrid Bhutta-12 and 13- are both heat and drought tolerant. So, these are
becoming popular in the growers' level of the region.
 
The demand for the crop is on the rise with the increase of the poultry and
poultry birds farms as it contains huge Vitamin-A, he pointed out.
 
Dr Hossain said maize is highly beneficial to human health.