Bumper Aman yield brings smile to flood-hit Netrakona farmers

Bumper yield of Aman has brought smile to farmers in Netrokona, who had faced several floods this year.

Three back-to-back floods affected Aman fields at initial stage this year, putting thousands of farmers at serious risk of cultivation.

But after the flash floods, insistent and moderate rainfall brought blessings for the farmers as it helped much to wash away the weeds from their field, said Md Habibur Rahman, deputy director of Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in Netrokona.

Water-logging after the floods also caused delay in transplanting Aman paddy but the farmers overcame the situation transplanting high yielding and late varieties, said the official.

Though the cultivation target was not achieved this year, the Aman production will exceed the target due to bumper production, said the deputy director.

The cultivation target was 132425-heactare in the district while Aman was cultivated on 126676-hectare this year with a production target of 585676 tonnes of paddy and the production target will exceed, hopes the official adding that "Around 76 percent of paddy has already been harvested".

Soon after the floods, the DAE started to prepare floating Aman seedbeds of BR-22, a late variety to support the flood affected farmers in Sadar, Barhatta, Mohanganj, Kalmakanda and Purbadhala upazila, said the deputy director.

Seedbeds on 232-hectare were also damaged in the flash floods, the official added.

Faruq Ahmed, upazila agriculture officer in Kalmakanda, said the cultivation target was 15275-hectare but Aman was cultivated on 14625-hectare against its production target around 54200 tonnes of paddy in the upazila.

Due to repeated floods, the cultivation target was not achieved but the production target will be achieved as the farmers here cultivated high-yielding BRRI Dhan varieties in massive form, said the official.

Ayub Ali, a farmer of Hasanuagaon in Kalmakanda, said his Aman field was affected in the flood but he is expecting a high yield from his seven hectares of land.

Alal Uddin, another farmer of the same locality, said a portion of his four-hectare transplanted Aman land was affected in the flash floods but favourable weather in the late season helped them much to get bumper production this year.

Md Mostafa Kamal, upazila agriculture officer in Mohanganj, said some 700 farmers in the upazila cultivated BRRI-75, an early rice variety, and each farmer got some 5.50 tonnes of paddy from per hectare.