Nine districts set to have bumper wheat harvest
A farmer reaps wheat from his profusely yielding field at Agdia village in Narail Sadar upazila as fair prices coupled with irrigation facilities and smooth supply of organic fertilisers encouraged local farmers to cultivate the winter crop in more areas this season. Photo: STAR
The current season shows all signs of good yield of wheat in different areas of the country. Farmers and agriculturists are expecting bumper production of the winter crop in eight districts of Dinajpur and Rangpur regions as the plants have grown well due to favourable weather condition, reports our correspondent Quamrul Islam Rubaiyat. Prolonged winter, timely irrigation and smooth supply of fertilisers have helped proper growth of wheat plants in the eight northern districts, said Dr Zahidul Islam Sarker, principal scientific officer of Wheat Research Centre (WRC) in Dinajpur. Around 1.6-lakh hectares of land have been brought under wheat cultivation in the eight northern districts against the target of about 1.19-lakh hectares with the production target of 3 lakh 9,369 tonnes. Of the cultivated land, 57,100 hectares are in Thakurgaon, 16,072 hectares in Dinajpur, 11,100 hectares in Panchagarh, 3,040 hectares in Rangpur, 2,020 hectares in Gaibandha, 11,230 hectares in Kurigram, 1,375 hectares in Lalmonirhat and 4,025 hectares in Nilphamari district, said sources of Rangpur Regional office of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE). Although the wheat cultivation area is little short than the target, the production target is likely to exceed much as farmers are expecting to get 12 to 16 maunds (one maund = 37.32 kg) of wheat per bigha (0.3306 acre) of land, DAE officials and farmers said. Harvesting will start in the last week of March, they said. 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 seeds. Farmers overcame the situation by using locally preserved seeds and buying seeds from private companies at higher rates. The farmers of Thakurgaon, the highest wheat producing district in the country, last year produced 1.94-lakh tonnes of wheat from 58,900 hectares of land (of the total crops on 4,000 hectares damaged by natural disaster) while the country's total production was 9.75 lakh tonnes from 3.75-lakh hectares of land, DAE sources said. This season, the country's wheat cultivation area and total production target have remained the same. Increasing demand, good prices, easy cultivation process and lower production cost than that of Irri-boro make wheat cultivation attractive to farmers. "I have decided to cultivate wheat considering its growing demand and high price in the market," said Rafiqul Islam, 45, of Shingpara village in Thakurgaon Sadar upazila. Cultivation of wheat, requiring only three times irrigation, is much easier and less costly than paddy cultivation, said Md Islam of Moidandighi village in Boda upazila of Panchagarh. Production cost of wheat on a bigha of land is Tk 4500 at the maximum while it needs around Tk 8500 to cultivate Irri-boro crops, he said. "Now the farmers use high yielding varieties including BARI-25, BARI-26, Prodip, Bijoy and Shatabdi developed by WRC. These varieties are heat tolerant and can easily adapt to our environment," said WRC offcial Dr Zahidul Islam Sarker. Cultivation of these varieties has helped the country's average wheat production increase to nearly three tonnes per hectare from earlier two tonnes, he said. The research centre has developed two new high yielding and disease tolerant varieties BARI-27 and BARI-28 that will be introduced at the farmers' level in next season, he said. The country produces 9 lakh to 10 lakh tonnes of wheat a year against the demand of about 30 to 35 lakh tonnes, WRC officials said, adding that favourable temperature, sandy-loamy soil and easy availability of water are needed for cultivation of the winter crop. Ponuel S Bose adds from Narail: Encouraged by good yield and good price of wheat during the last several years, farmers in three upazilas of the district are cultivating the crop on larger areas of land. Favourable weather, sandy-loamy soil, timely irrigation and availability of organic fertiliser at fair price have helped wheat plants to grow well and fast, said agriculture officials and farmers. The farmers in Narail district have cultivated wheat on 2,740 hectares of land and the production target is 7,121 tonnes, DAE officials said. The cultivation areas include 1,070 hectares of land in Narail Sadar upazila, 1,060 hectares in Lohagara upazila and 610 hectares in Kalia upazila. Harvesting has already started in the different areas and the target is likely to exceed much as farmers are getting 31 to 32 maunds of wheat per acre (100 decimals) of land, DAE officials said. Cultivation of wheat is much easier and less costly than paddy cultivation, said local farmers. "I was inspired to cultivate wheat because of its growing demand and high price in the market during the last few years," said Sukumer Dey, a farmer of Agdia village in Sadar upazila. Kamrul Hasan Sagor, Organic fertiliser producer and analyser of RK Agro, said that farmers of the southern districts are getting positive results by using organic fertilisers instead of chemical ones. The farmers of Narail district now use high yielding varieties of wheat seeds naming Shatabdi, Prodeep, Shourav, Gourab and Bijoy, said DAE Deputy Director Bonik Ram Krishno.
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