Growers happy over bumper aus production in Lalmonirhat

Farmers are happy following the bumper production of aus paddy this season in Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila this season while an acute crisis of aman seedlings brings frustration to flood-affected farmers in two upazilas of the district.

Manindra Nath, 48, a farmer at Kodalkhata village under Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila, cultivated aus paddy on his one acre of land, and plans to do so next year as he got bumper production this season.

"I got 42 maunds of aus paddy from one acre of land spending Tk 10 thousand. I will earn Tk 10-11 thousand from selling produced paddy," he said. "I got seeds, fertiliser and irrigation facility free from the agriculture office," he added.

Farmers of different areas are also saying they will cultivate aus paddy due to less production cost and more profit.

Selim Sultan, sub-assistant agriculture officer in Lalmonirhat Sadar, said aus paddy farming needs less irrigation water, fertiliser and pesticide, and the labour cost is lower than that of other varieties of paddy. "We encourage farmers to use their lands between boro and aman seasons," he said.

Officials of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) said aus paddy was cultivated on 4,765 hectares of land this year, while it was 4,720 hectares last year.

Bidu Bhuson Roy, deputy director of DAE in Lalmonirhat , said DAE provides seeds, fertiliser, and irrigation free of cost to encourage farmers to cultivate aus paddy.

Due to the crisis of aman seedlings in the district, unscrupulous traders are doing brisk business over marketing seedlings collected from the mainland. Some flood affected farmers are collecting seedlings from their relatives and some are buying seedlings at high rate.

Harimohon Barmon, 56, a farmer of Karnapur village in Lalmonirhat Sadar, said he has collected aman seedlings from his father-in-law for replanting aman on his flood-affected four bighas of land. "I planted aman seedlings on eight bighas of land but all of them were damaged by flood," he said.

Abdu Mazid, 50, a farmer of the same village, said he has been trying to collect seedlings, but could not get any.

Azizar Rahman, 48, a farmer at Gaddimari village under Hatibandha upazila, said one bundle of 120-130 aman seedlings costs Tk 7-8, whereas it was Tk 2-3 last year.

Seedling trader Jalil Miah, 50, said they get Tk 1-2 profit by selling one bundle. "We purchase seedlings from farmers at high rate in the mainland so we sell it at high rate," he added.

Sarwar-Ul-Haque, deputy director of DAE in Lalmonirhat, said, "We have prepared a list of affected farmers, and hope they will get government help very soon," he added.