Aus farming on rise

Cultivation of Aus paddy is gaining popularity among farmers in the district as it ripens quickly and production cost is low, although plantation has been delayed due to rain during Boro harvesting period.  

District Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) has fixed 1,669 hectares of land for cultivation of Aus this year, while production target is 3,738 tonnes, said Sub-Assistant Agriculture Officer Bimal Kumar De. 

“Farmers have already cultivated Aus on 4,049 hectares of land and we are expecting that the cultivated area will be over 5,000 hectares this year. Aus was cultivated on 1,830 hectares last year,” he said.

“I have cultivated Aus on 75 decimals of land this year. I cultivated it on 40 decimals last year and got a good yield of 13 maunds per bigha. I am expecting good yield this year too,” said Shafiqul Islam, 30, of Giraypar village in Nageswari upazila.

“I planted Aus on 20 decimals of land on May 25 as I could not harvest ripe Aman paddy some days ago due to rain,” said Abdul Khaleq, 80, of Kaley village in Sadar upazila.

 “Aus is a short duration crop between Boro and T-Aman cultivation. Farmers can get profit at low cost as there is no need for extra-irrigation and excessive fertilizer in Aus cultivation. We are motivating farmers to cultivate Aus paddy to recover the loss of crops damaged by flood,” said Sadar Upazila Agriculture Officer Sasty Chandra Roy.

 “We have given Aus seeds and chemical fertilizers for one bigha of land to each of 1,500 farmers in the district this year for increasing production of rice and motivating them,” said DAE Deputy Director Mostafizur Rahman Prodhan.