BSS, Rangpur
Farmers of the northern region of the country are expecting a bumper production of wheat this season as the blooming plants are growing well everywhere due to favourable climatic conditions predicting excellent production.
Farmers and officials concerned on Sunday told BSS that the fixed target would be achieved for the second consecutive time this season as the growers have cultivated the crop on more land than the fixed target in many areas of the region.
The farmers, who got a bumper production and fair price of the crop last season, are now properly irrigating and taking care of the blooming wheat plants to achieve another bumper production.
The Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) has fixed a target of producing 6,21,790 tonnes wheat from 2,39,150 hectares land during this rabi season in the region, the officials said.
The fixed target is 32 percent higher than that of the previous season when the production target was fixed at 4,69,220 tonnes of wheat from 2,22,962 hectares of land the farmers achieved the target for the first time after a decade in the region.
This year’s target has been fixed considering the success of the previous season and growing interest among the farmers for wheat cultivation and to increase production of the major crops for ensuring food security in the country, they added.
The departments concerned, including the DAE, Regional Wheat Research Institutes, Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation and the Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute and some NGOs, have taken special steps to make the programme a success.
Earlier, the fixed targets for producing wheat in the region could not be achieved for a decade till the year 2007 due to various reasons, including diversification of crop farming and less interest of farmers in farming the crop, the sources added.
Officials are expecting to achieve the target as motivational activities were conducted and the farmers were provided with quality wheat seeds, fertilizers and other necessary inputs under various government programmes, the sources said.
The landless, small and marginal farmers have cultivated wheat in vast tract of the sandy char lands in the Brahmaputra and Jamuna rivers basins this time that will add to the overall production of the crop.
Deputy Directors of DAE, at its Rangpur Regional Office Nur Mohammad and Hazrat Ali of DAE, Rangpur on Sunday told BSS that the government has engaged its best efforts to popularise wheat farming throughout the country in recent years.
Courtesy: thebangladeshtoday.com
