Aman output to be lower this time

Paddy output in the current aman season is likely to be lower for flood-induced crop damage and area contraction for low domestic price, according to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation.

During the aman season, rice (paddy) production would be about 19.6 million tonnes (13 million tonnes in husked rice), down 1 percent year-on-year, the FAO said in its food and agriculture country brief on Bangladesh last week.

While widespread abundant rains during the harvesting season were beneficial to crop development, the passage of cyclone Komen on July 30 triggered some localised floods across southeastern parts of the country, causing minor damage to crops, it said.

Furthermore, flood from monsoon rains towards the end of August also damaged crops, mainly aman, in 29 districts, according to a previous estimate by the Department of Agricultural Extension.

The FAO said increased yields are expected to partially offset a 2 percent contraction in acreage in response to low domestic prices at sowing time. It, however, did not state this season's plantation area.

The UN agency's forecast comes as farmers are set to start harvesting paddy from the current aman season, which accounts for nearly 38 percent of the total annual rice production of 34.7 million tonnes.

However, the DAE estimates that production will rise if farmers can bag safe harvest without facing any natural calamity this month and the next, according to its Director General Md Hamidur Rahman.

This year, aman has been planted on 5.36 million hectares of land, up from the DAE's target of 5.26 million hectares, according to data from the agriculture ministry.

“We expect production to rise, because acreage of high-yielding and hybrid varieties of rice has increased this season,” Rahman said.

In 2014, Bangladesh bagged 13.19 million tonnes of husked aman rice from 5.53 million hectares, according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.

Despite the possibility of a drop in aman output, total rice (paddy) production is likely to be 51.9 million tonnes, which is close to 2014's record level, because of higher boro output, the FAO said.