Good yield, better price delight Aman growers

High yield of Aman paddy as well as good prices has brought big smiles to the faces of rice growers in different upazilas of five northern districts under Rangpur region.

Farmers said now each maund (40 kg) of Aman paddy is selling for Tk 1,300 to Tk 1,320 in the local markets, while it was sold between Tk 1,050 to Tk 1,100 at this time of the season.

As a result, farmers are quite happy to get fair prices of their produced paddy this season.

Currently, Aman harvesting season is going on in five northern districts -- Lalmonirhat, Kurigram, Gaibandha, Rangpur and Nilphamari -- under Rangpur region.

Alongside famers, many agricultural workers are passing busy time in either harvesting or threshing the paddy.

According to the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) officials, thus year Aman has been cultivated on a total of 6,20,306 hectares of land in five distracts under Rangpur region, with a target to produce 19,17,672 tonnes of rice.

Farmer Mansur Ali of Hatia village in Kurigram's Ulipur upazila said farmers in his locality have a good yield of Aman paddy due to favourable weather condition.

About 13 to 15 maunds of paddy have been produced from each bigha of land, while growers had to spend Tk 10,000 to Tk 11,000 as production cost that includes seeds, fertilizer and labourer wages, Mansur said, adding that apart from paddy, farmers also get paddy straws worth around Tk 4,000 from each bigha.

Altaf Hossain, another farmer from Doljor area in Lalmonirhat's Aditmari upazila, said production of paddy has increased a bit as there was no fungal attacks in their paddy fields this year.

This year not only prices, but the cost of paddy production has also increased, compared to the previous years, due to high cost of seeds and fertilizers, he said, adding that after harvesting paddy he will go for potato and mustard cultivation.

Noor Alam, a wholesaler at Hatia paddy market in Kurigram's Ulipur upazila, said they were buying each maund of paddy from farmers at Tk 1,300 to Tk 1,320.

Kurigram DAE Deputy Director Abdullah Al Mamun said the good yield and better prices of Aman paddy this year will surely encourage farmers to bring more land under paddy cultivation next year.