Bumper Yield, Good Price
Fortune smiles on wheat growers in 8 districts
A profusely yielding wheat field at Bhobaniganj village in Nilphamari Sadar upazila waits harvest. The eight northern districts will exceed the target of wheat cultivation due to favourable weather condition this season, say farmers and agriculture officials. Photo: STAR
Bumper yield and good price have brought smile to the wheat farmers in eight northern districts of Rangpur, Dinajpur, Gaibandha, Kurigram, Nilphamari, Lalmonirhat, Thakurgaon and Panchagarh this year. They are making handsome profit by selling it in markets as wheat harvesting started in the region in the third week of March. The harvesting is expected to be complete this month. Severe cold, timely irrigation and availability of fertiliser at fair price have helped wheat plants to grow fast, said agriculture officials and farmers. Sources at the regional office of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) in Rangpur said they set a target to produce 2.8 tonnes of wheat in a hectare or a total of 3.44 lakh tonnes in the region this year. But the target is likely to exceed much as ongoing harvest shows that farmers are getting 2.90 tonnes per hectare on an average and about 1.23 lakh hectares of land has been brought under wheat cultivation in the eight northern districts this year. The farmers faced trouble in collecting quality seeds at the beginning of the season as Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation failed to supply sufficient amount of it. To overcome the situation, farmers used locally preserved seeds and seeds bought from private companies for higher prices although quality of those seeds is questionable. Wheat cultivation is gaining popularity in the region due to its increasing demand, good prices, easy cultivation process and lower production cost than Irri-Boro paddy and potato, said DAE officials and farmers. Mid-November to first week of December is the peak period for wheat cultivation. Sandy-loamy soil, favourable low temperature at initial stage and facility to drain out rain water from the land are preconditions for a good harvest. Wheat cultivation requires only three times irrigation, is much easier and less costly than boro cultivation, said Abed Ali, 45, a wheat farmer of Jaldhaka upazila. Another farmer, Abdul Mannan Shah, 50, of Fakirpara village in Nilphamari district said, “I have decided to cultivate wheat as its demand is very high in the market. I can get at least Tk 1,000 for a maund of wheat (1 maund =40 kg) and Tk 9000 in a bigha as my yield is nine maund in a bigha (I bigha= 30 decimal). Production cost of wheat on per bigha of land is around Tk 4500 at the maximum while it needs Tk 8,000-9,000 to cultivate boro in the same area, informed farmers. Now, the farmers use high yielding varieties of wheat seeds like shatabdi, prodip, shourav, bijoy and gourab. Wheat Research Centre in Dinajpur has recently developed high yielding varieties of wheat called hasi and teesta. Their introduction to the farmers will help to increase wheat production even more, said DAE officials. The country can produce only one third of its annual demand of about 31 lakh tonne of wheat and the rest is to be imported.
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