Low rice yield feared as vast tracts remain uncultivated
Little or no rains in monsoon and power supply shortage have taken their toll on paddy crops, already weighed down by low prices of earlier harvests, leaving thousands of acres of lands uncultivated in northern districts.
Farmers in the northern region, known as the country’s rice warehouse, are in fear and frustration about their cash crop’s future.
Haunted by memories of poor sales of previous crop, they cannot rely on traders’ forecast that paddy price would go up in the next harvest if the government fails to build adequate food stocks.
‘I incurred huge loss by selling Boro paddy per maund at Tk 350, down from Tk 650 of the year before,’ said Sobhan Ali, a farmer. ‘As Aman planting is still uncertain, God knows what more is waiting for us in the coming days.’
‘If you were here last year, you would hardly see a vacant cropland,’ Tabibul Islam, a farmer at Nauhatta Mor of Mohadevpur upazila, said.
He and many other farmers in the area said after seeing sharp fall in Boro paddy price three months back, some farmers had decided not to plant Aus (locally called as Brashal IRRI), which is Boro’s immediate next crop.
Those who planted Aus are now crying for rain.
Aus is purely a monsoon variety paddy, while farmers need incessant monsoon rain to prepare land and seedbed for Aman between mid-June and mid-August.
Half of the monsoon passed with little rain, while aus plantation is over and Aman plantation is being delayed for want of rain. Local farmers do not find irrigation pumps as substitute for rain in case of Aman cultivation.
The government’s offer of free electricity means little to them as irrigation pumps remain off most of the day due to frequent outages and most of them do not have access to electricity.
In the past couple of days there were some rains in parts of Rajshahi region, but farmers said incessant rains for at least a week could be the only answer.
On the both sides of Rajshahi-Naogaon road, at least three-fourths croplands at Naohatta area remained uncultivated.
Department of Agriculture Extension officials said Mohadevpur is one of the country’s highest paddy growing areas and farming here is always profitable.
‘In some areas here 28 maunds (37.3 kilograms make a maund) of paddy grow on one bigha, up from 20-22 maunds in other places,’ an official said.
Naogaon is always a rice surplus district as paddy production exceeds the target with a wide margin every year, he said, expressing his apprehension that the next season could be an exception as both Aus and Aman targets might be missed.
Rajshahi divisional extension officials said Aus acreage stands this year at some 36,000 hectares, less by 16,000 hectares than the target.
‘Most of us would have been planting Aman if there was rain. Ashar and half of Shrabon have gone, but you see there is no rain. Erratic power supply has handicapped finally,’ said Abdul Hakim, a farmer in Natore.
Photo:wn.com
Courtesy of NewAgebd
