Weeklong rain keeps aman farmers' hopes alive in Rangpur division
Now eyeing a good yield, a farmer scatters fertiliser on his paddy field in Kaunia upazila of Rangpur district as the transplanted aman plants, drying earlier due to lack of water, becomes lively with adequate rainfall during the last one week.Photo: STAR
Long expected rainfall at the end of rainy season has come as a relief for the farmers of transplanted aman (T-aman) paddy in eight districts of Rangpur division. In absence of sufficient rain during the peak period of the monsoon, farmers in this region had to depend on irrigation with electricity-driven deep tube-wells and diesel-run shallow pumps to save their crops but many farmers, especially the small and marginal ones, could not afford it. However, the last one week saw a good amount of rainfall due to the depression in the Bay and Rangpur Met office recorded 301.3 millimetre rainfall from 6:00am on September 14 to 6:00am on September 20. Against the backdrop of a drought-like situation, the rain has greatly benefited the farmers who had to count additional cost for irrigating their T-aman paddy fields, said Md Firoz Ahmed, deputy director of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) in Rangpur. Shahajada Ali, 50, a farmer of Machhari village under Kaunia upazila in Rangpur district, said, "Seeing the best rainfall of the current season during the last seven days, we are now very hopeful about good yield of T-aman." DAE sources said, T-aman was cultivated on 10,24,068 hectares of land in eight districts under Rangpur Agricultural Zone this year although 10,84,074 hectares of land was brought under its cultivation in 2011. Cultivation of T-aman has declined in this region this season as farmers did not get fair prices last year, DAE sources said. The recent rainfall during late Bhadra and early Ashwin (Bangla months) has come as a relief for farmers as the standing crops would not need water at least next half a month, they said, adding that some of the late varieties can also be cultivated with this water. With prospect of good yield now, the T-aman farmers in Rangpur division have urged the government to ensure fair prices of the crop.
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