Govt to try it out
The government has decided to give a new water-saving farming technology a try so that farmers can grow Boro rice using half the volume of water they use now for irrigating paddy fields.
Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury yesterday told a gathering of several hundred agricultural scientists, experts and extension officials that since 2009 she had discouraged Boro considering its huge impact on groundwater depletion but she is now ready to give the new rice farming technology a try as it promises cutting water use by half.
Dr Md Moshiur Rahman, an agronomy professor of Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU), who pioneered the direct-seeded rice technology in Boro season, was invited to give a talk on the water conservation merits of the new production system in the auditorium of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC) in the capital.
In a power-point presentation Dr Moshiur explained how the direct-seeded technology not only helps saving water used for irrigation, but also saves diesel and electricity used for running irrigation pumps.
"I had said back in 2009 that we can't have the luxury of growing Boro at the cost of 3,200 litres of water for each kilogramme of rice. And I began encouraging farmers to grow wheat, maize, vegetables, oilseeds and pulses instead," said Matia.
She appreciated the BAU team's effort in developing the less water-intensive rice farming technology and urged for taking it to the farmers' field and see if there were any challenges.
Agriculture Secretary Md Moinuddin Abdullah asked officials and extension workers to take the technology to the fields so that farmers get relief from high irrigation and Boro production costs.
Unlike traditional puddle transplanted rice technology, seedlings are not grown in nurseries in direct-seeded technology; seeds are soaked and incubated for two to three days and then sowed in the paddy fields.
BARC Executive Chairman Abul Kalam Azad, heads of agricultural research organisations, Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI), Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC) and host of other agriculturalists, experts, also participated in the discussion.
They emphasised putting in place better weed management as direct-seeded crops are susceptive to weeds and remaining careful about cold injuries to seeds and heat strike in case of late harvesting of Boro.
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