The farmers are expecting an all-time record output of the short duration Aush rice after exceeding its fixed farming target by 6.73 percent during this off-season in Rangpur agriculture region.Officials of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) said tender plants of the less irrigation water consuming Aush rice are growing fabulously predicting a super bumper production of the crop this year.
The DAE has fixed a target of cultivating Aush rice on 59,675 heaters of land to produce over 1.83-lakh tonnes of clean rice (2.75-lakh tonnes of paddy) as an additional crop for all five districts in the region this year.
“The farmers have finally cultivated Aush rice on 63,690 hectares of land, higher by 4,015 hectares or 6.73 percent than the fixed farming target,” Additional Director of DAE for Rangpur region Agriculturist Muhammad Ali told BSS Thursday.
Official statistics said the farmers produced 51,722 tonnes of Aush rice from 17,523 hectares of land in 2013 while 59,685 tonnes of rice from 19,205 hectares in 2014 and 61,676 tonnes of Aush rice from 21,063 hectares of land in 2015 in the region.
Besides, farmers produced 65,505 tonnes of Aush rice from 21,751 hectares of land in 2016 while 73,543 tonnes of Aush rice from 24,717 hectares in 2017 and 1.23 lakh tonnes of Aush rice from 40, 618 hectares of land in 2018.
“The farmers witnessed the previous record output of 1.48 lakh tonnes of clean Aush rice from 40,618 hectares of land against the fixed production target of 68,969 tonnes from 26,159 heaters of land in the region in 2019,” he added.
Apart from carrying out motivational campaigns, the government has given special incentives and technical support to the farmers to inspire them in enhancing Aush rice farming during the off-season to achieve the success in the last eight years.
Cultivation of Aush rice has already become popular during the off-season between May and mid-August without hampering Transplanted Aman (T-Aman) rice farming on the same land.
“During this season, the government distributed special incentives in terms of Aush rice seeds and fertilisers free of costs among 22,750 small and marginal farmers of the region,” he said.
“Under the incentive package, every beneficiary farmer got 5 kg high yielding variety Aush rice seed, 20 kg Di-ammonium phosphate and 10 kg Murrieta of Potash fertilisers to cultivate Aush rice on one bigha of land,” Ali added.
Agriculturist Dr Md Abdul Mazid, who got the Independence Award 2018 Medal (food security), said the farmers are earning more profits by farming Aush rice using seasonal rainwater as an additional crop on their lands that remain fallow during the off-season.
“Aush rice cultivation during the off-season without hampering T-Aman rice farming regained popularity among farmers following various effective steps taken by the present government in the last 12 years,” Dr. Mazid said.
Talking to BSS, farmers Ariful Haque, Aiyub Hossain and Korban Ali of Rangpur said tender plants of Aush rice crop are growing superbly on their crop lands amid favourable climatic conditions predicting bumper production of the crop this year, reports BSS from Rangpur.
