RAJSHAHI, April 20, 2022 (BSS) - A total of 90,600 small and marginal farmers
get seed and fertilizer as incentives worth around Taka 7.08 crore for the
cultivation of Aush paddy in the current Kharif-1 season in all eight
districts of the division.

The beneficiary farmers are being given five kilograms of high yielding seed,
20 kilograms of diammonium phosphate and 10 kilograms of muriate of potash
fertilizers for Aush paddy cultivation on one bigha of land each free of cost
under the government's agricultural incentive programme.

Khayer Uddin Mollah, Zonal Deputy Director of Department of Agriculture
Extension (DAE), said that the incentives distribution was almost completed
successfully everywhere in the division.

He said the agricultural incentives will help boost Aush paddy production as
the country's total production will be enhanced while the government has
attached highest priority to the agriculture sector.

Khayer Mollah said the Aush farming is very much cost effective as it
requires less production cost and faces less natural calamity.

Target has also been set to bring 62,003 hectares of land under direct seeded
Aman paddy in the division this season, he added. Brridhan-42 and 43
varieties, which are zinc-enriched and short duration, will be used for the
farming to attain the production target.

Direct seeded farming processes reduce 45 to 50 percent production cost than
the conventional system. "We have found the optimistic result in
demonstration plots of Aush paddy in the area," he added.

"We have already completed the incentive distribution activities in Godagari
upazila," said Atanu Sarker, Sub Assistant Agriculture Officer.

Meanwhile, the DAE has set a target to produce 6,76,458 tonnes of Aush rice
from 2,22,485 hectares of land in all eight districts in the division.

Target has also been set to grow seedlings on 11,254 hectares of land to make
the transplantation process a total success.

In many areas, the farmers have started transplanting Aush paddy and the
advanced varieties in particular.

Some new paddy varieties innovated by Bangladesh Rice Research Institute
(BRRI) have opened up a door of enormous prospects in food security along
with mitigating the crises of irrigation water in the division.

Ahad Ali, 35, a farmer of Ishwaripur village under Godagari upazila, received
the incentives expressing his gratitude to the government for standing beside
them. Another marginal farmer Muhammad Karim, 47, of Fulbari village is now
happy after getting the incentives.

Dr Fazlul Islam, Principal Scientific Officer of Bangladesh Agriculture
Research Institute, here said BRRI released seven drought tolerant varieties
and some of those have gained popularity among farmers during the last couple
of years.
 
He said the BRRIdhan-48 paddy variety has been gaining popularity among
farmers in the Barind tract for the last couple of years.

It has been giving satisfactory yield with scanty rainfall and limited
irrigation during the Aush season in the area.

The farmers are seen being interested in cultivating the newly developed
variety in the vast Barind tract as part of their effort to adapt with the
adverse impacts of climate change.

Dr Islam said the BRRIdhan-48 has become an icon of boosting paddy production
in the region including its vast Barind tract during the last couple of years
and Brri Dhan 82 has started gaining popularity with equal yield.

By virtue of early harvesting characteristics, the varieties supplement the
farming of transplanted Aman and various Rabi crops like tomato, brinjal,
mustard and vegetables as the region is conventionally famous for farming
these crops abundantly.

Farmers have harvested around 6.07 lakh tonnes of Aush rice from around 2.03
lakh hectares of land in the division last year.