Wheat acreage unchanged

Wheat acreage this winter is more or less the same as last year even though a large number of growers in the southwest switched to other crops this year.

Plantation of the second most consumed cereal stood at 4.43 lakh hectares of land this winter against the Department of Agricultural Extension's target of 4.45 lakh hectares, according to preliminary data.

The acreage was 4.44 lakh hectares last winter, according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.

Wheat area, which had been rising in recent years, has not expanded this season as many of the farmers in the southwestern districts switched to maize, vegetables and other crops to avoid losses for recurrence of the blast disease, said agricultural officials.

The outbreak was its first in Asia, and it affected 15,000 hectares of wheat fields in the southwest districts -- Jessore, Kushtia, Chuadanga, Jhenaidah, Meherpur, Barisal and Bhola -- last season, causing 30 percent average yield loss, said Naresh Chandra Deb Barma, director of Wheat Research Centre.

As a precaution, the DAE has discouraged farmers from growing wheat in those districts that were hit hard by the fungal disease last season.

“We have suggested farmers cultivate maize, pulses and other crops,” said Chaitanya Kumar Das, DAE's director for field services.

“You will not see wheat on even one-tenth of the area this year,” said Wasim Royal, a 32-year farmer at Darshana, Chuadanga.

He said wheat plantation covered one-third of the farmland in his village last year.

“Many switched to other crops this season affected by last year's disease outbreak. And a section of them have suspended plans after agricultural officials discouraged cultivation.”

This correspondent visited the Chuadanga district and parts of Jessore and Jhenaidah recently and saw plenty of maize, vegetables, rice and orchards fields. Wheat fields were scarce.

Royal said he planted wheat on 33 decimals, locally known as one bigha, for the first time last winter.

He got only two and a half maunds of wheat against the minimum of six maunds per bigha in the past years.

Royal said he spent Tk 5,000 to grow the cereal but could not recover the investment because of unfavourable weather and disease attack. This year, he planted sugarcane on that field.

But wheat cultivation has expanded in the northwest districts, according to DAE officials.

The rising demand for wheat and falling underground water level are the major reasons behind the increased cultivation in the northwest, Barma said.

Domestic consumption rose 10 percent annually while market prices remained steady, he said.

Bangladesh requires more than 50 lakh tonnes annually but its domestic production can meet one-fourth of total annual consumption.

Last year, wheat production was 13.48 lakh tonnes, according to BBS.