Boro plantation to expand this season
Farmers are likely to plant boro paddy on increased area this season, encouraged by higher prices of rice in the last two months, said agricultural extension officials.
As of March 14, growers have planted boro paddy seedlings on 47.73 lakh hectares, against the target of 48 lakh hectares set by the Department of Agricultural Extension.
“Many farmers in potato growing districts such as Munshiganj, Manikganj and Thakurgaon would plant boro after harvesting potato. So, rice area will rise further,” said Chaitanya Kumar Das, director of Field Services Wing of the DAE.
Last year, plantation during boro season fell 1.4 percent from the previous season to 47.72 lakh hectares owing to the low prices of rice at that time.
Rice output from the boro season, which typically accounts for 55 percent of the total annual rice production, also declined, according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.
However, many growers returned to rice plantation encouraged by the rebound in rice prices since the beginning of fiscal 2016-17.
The government's paddy purchases and falling imports for duty hike encouraged farmers to grow paddy, shifting from other crops.
At present, the retail prices of coarse rice, the benchmark of rice price movement, are Tk 37-40 each kilogram, up 4 percent from a month ago, according to Trading Corporation of Bangladesh.
The prices of coarse rice, consumed mainly by low income people, are 17 percent higher from Tk 32-34 per kilogram a year earlier.
DAE officials said farmers prepared seedbeds on higher area this season from a year ago.
The availability of some good varieties is another reason behind the farmers' interest in growing paddy during this dry season, said another DAE official.
Das said the recent rainfall would be highly beneficial for crops.
“It will reduce irrigation requirement. The plant growth will be good facilitating good yield,” he added.
The DAE aims to ensure production of 1.91 crore tonnes of rice during the current boro season. The rice production target for the fiscal year is 3.51 crore tonnes.
BBS is yet to release the rice production data for the aman season, which is the rainy season.
However, millers and agricultural officials said aman rice production and acreage were higher this fiscal year than a year earlier. Bangladesh consumes 3.5 crore tonnes of rice a year, according to the US Department of Agriculture.
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