Aman output drops in 16 northern dists
Production of aman rice dropped alarmingly in 16 northern districts in the current season compared to the last season's, due to the devastation wrought by this year's consecutive floods and a fertilizer crisis, according to the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) officials and field level information.
The DAE officials said in some areas of the northern districts aman production decreased by 0.29 metric tons (MT) per 0.13 hectares or one bigha of land.
Belal, 33, of Fepra village under Khetlal upazila of Joypurhat said he got a yield of .44 MT sharna variety of aman from 0.13 hectares of land this season compared to last year's 0.55 MT. "Due to the fertilizer crisis, I lost at least 0.11 MT of aman rice," he said.
Bishwanath, 45, of Pulinja village under the same upazila, said he got a yield of 0.37 MT aman cultivating BR-11 variety this season, compared to last year's yield of 0.59 MT from the same amount of land.
Akber, 55, of Borodhap village under Adamdighi upazila of Bogra, said he got a yield of 0.44 MT of aman cultivating masuri variety of the rice on 0.13 hectares this season compared to last year's 0.59 MT.
Sayed Ali of Dupchanchai upazila of Bogra said he got a yield of 0.33 MT of Lalpaizam variety of aman this season cultivating on .13 hectares of land, compared to last year's yield of 0.11 MT.
The DAE officials in Bogra said production of high yielding varieties (HYV) decreased on an average of 0.27 MT per hectare this season. Last year production of HYV was 2.67 MT per hectare in Bogra compared to this year's 2.40 MT, according to a DAE field level survey.
The officials also said although the urea requirement in Bogra was 30,833 MT in the current aman season, the government allocated 28,255 MT.
A senior DAE officer in Pabna said aman production decreased by at least 0.25 MT per hectare there, compared to last year's production. He said the production was hampered severely due to the floods, heavy rainfall, and the fertilizer crisis.
Abdul Mazid of Bera upazila in Pabna said he got a yield of 0.74 MT cultivating BR-11 variety on 0.13 hectares of land, which was 0.08 MT less than last season's yield.
Noor-un-Nabi of Palashbari village under Kurigram Sadar upazila said he got a yield of 0.41 MT aman rice cultivating BR-11 variety on his 0.13 hectares of land this year, compared to the 0.70 MT yield of last year's.
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