The Barendra Multipurpose Development Authority (BMDA) has now been providing irrigation to 7.52 lakh hectares of farming fields including 2.61 lakh hectares of irri-boro land through operating 14,090 power-driven deep tubewells (DTWs) almost everywhere in the country’s northwest zone. The irrigated lands have yielded around 61.08 lakh tonnes of additional crops especially foodgrain in the region especially the vast Barind Tract yearly. The observations came at the 71 Authority (BMDA) held at its conference hall in Rajshahi city on Friday. The daylong meeting reviewed all activities and progress of BMDA’s ongoing projects elaborately and took some important decisions in this regard, the meeting sources said. With Advocate Nurul Islam Thandu, Chairman of BMDA, in the chair, Board MembersState Minister for Youth and Sports Ahad Ali Sarker, MP, Engineer Enamul Haque, MP, Abdul Wadud Dara, MP, Prof Zinatun Nessa Talukder, MP, Emaj Uddin Mondal, MP, Israfil Alam, MP, Sadhan Majumder, MP, Dr Akram Hossain Chowdhury, MP, Shahiduzzaman Sarker, MP, Mokbul Hossain, MP, Ziaur Rahman, MP, Shefali Montaj, MP, Shaheen Monwara Haque, MP, Prof Khadija Khatun Shefali, MP, Akter Jahan and Deputy Commissioners of Rajshahi, Naogaon, Chapainawabgonj, Pabna and Bogra districts attended the meeting, among others concerned. The meeting observed that the agriculture sector has already witnessed the scarcity of irrigated water, which may be harmful for crop production. Besides, the agriculture sector has witnessed huge production cost due to rising prices of different agri-inputs, which is pushing farmers of the region into a difficult situation. It, however, stressed the need for more irrigation efficiency for reduction of misuse of water alongside decreasing agriculture production cost. So, some major parameters like water distribution system, irrigation scheme management system, water marketing system, sources of water, source of energy, Alternate Wetting Drying (AWD) and type of pumps should be brought under consideration on an urgent basis. – BSS, Rajshahi
