Good weather boosts aman farming in Sylhet region
Rain helps last minute planting in Gaibandha
Cultivation of transpant aman saw a big boost in the greater Sylhet region this year due to a favourable weather condition.
The crop has been cultivated on around four lakh hectares of land against the targeted 3,56,500 hectares, officials said.
DAE officials said the high yielding varieties of aman were planted till 15 September while the time for local varieties ends in mid October.
A well-to-do farmer Abdul Mannan of Mollagaon village in Golapganj upazila said the weather pattern is still much better this year. There had been no calamity like flood this year besides a balanced rainfall, he said.
Additional director of DAE, Sylhet division, AKM Rafiqul Islam told this correspondent that the farmers in the region while farming T aman suffer much due to repeated flood and foul weather condition almost every year. Things were totally different this time with sufficient rainfall and sunshine, he added.
It helped bring new areas under transplant aman cultivation in the region where huge croplands used to remain uncultivated, he said.
Besides, the farmers are now more conscious about using fertiliser and other cares for a better yield, the official said.
The official said, of the total targeted areas, 142,600 hectares are in Sylhet, 92,460 hectares in Moulvibazar, 64,215 hectares in Habiganj and 64,850 hectares in Sunamganj.
In those areas, HYV aman was cultivated on 275,650 hectares while the local varieties were cultivated on 88,545 hectares in the division till first week of this month.
The rice production target has been set at 863,500 metric tonnes, the official added.
Meanwhile, the farmers in Gaibandha were busy planting aman seedlings after a rain for three days last week, reports our correspondent.
The farmers were worried due to little rainfall over the fortnight. Solvent growers were compelled to go for irrigation while many low-lying areas remained fallow for want of water.
According to district agriculture extension department, over 5,000 irrigation pumps were deployed in the district to supply water to aman crop fields due to scanty rainfall.
Moreover, aman plants on large areas have been attacked by pest and stem rot diseases due to the drought. Sadullapur, Gobindaganj and Sundarganj upazilas bore the brunt, officials said.
However, all these menaces will naturally come down after rain, said Nazrul Islam, sub-assistant agriculture officer of Shaghata upazila.
Upazila agriculture officer of Gobindaganj Khorshed Alam said, this season the target of aman cultivation was fixed at 29,300 hectares. But seedlings transplanted on 5,290 hectares have been damaged by recent floodwater, he added.
Deputy director of DAE A H Bazlur Rashid said although the department fixed aman target at 1,18,585 hectares this year, at least 1,25,855 hectares have already been brought under the cultivation.
Although the schedule time for aman cultivation expired last month, yet the farmers of flood prone areas, specially in Teesta and Jamuna river basin, are still planting late variety aman seedlings, the officials said.
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