Govt plans incentives for synchronised cultivation

The government plans to provide incentives to encourage community cultivation so that farmers plant their crops in a synchronised manner and ensure simultaneous harvests.

"The idea is to improve crop productivity through mechanised tilling, transplantation and harvesting at the same time," said Md Shahjahan Kabir, director-general of the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute.

Currently, due to individual land ownership, farmers choose the types of crops and fix planting and harvesting times on their own.  As a result, there are vast differences in crop variety between two plots located side by side.

This fragmented cultivation practice acts as a barrier to fully mechanising farming, which is needed to increase crop yields and reduce the cost of production for farmers.

"It becomes difficult to move farm machinery from one plot to another because of the existing cultivation practice," said Kabir.

In mid-October, the agriculture ministry decided to give incentives so that farmers feel encouraged to join hands to transplant and harvest crops in a synchronised manner.

The decision came after the government successfully implemented synchronised cultivation in 12 upazilas in 12 districts, according to Kabir.

In the next Boro season, the agriculture ministry will take the initiative to embrace synchronised cultivation in at least one upazila in each district, said Md Mahbubul Islam, additional secretary of the agriculture ministry.

Under the initiative, the size of each plot for the synchronised cultivation will be 50-60 acres, as decided by the ministry.

In the first year, the agriculture ministry will provide fertilizer, seed, irrigation and harvesting support to farmers who join the community cultivation.

"We are planning to start encouraging farmers for synchronised cultivation from the next Boro cultivation season," Islam said.

The agriculture ministry is drafting a policy to this effect.