Agriculture experts at a ceremony on Friday stressed the need for
expanded cultivation of short duration, off-season and indigenous
parija paddy adopting newer cropping pattern for food security amid
adverse climate.
They were addressing the ceremony arranged at a farmers’ field day on
cutting parija paddy organised by RDRS Bangladesh at the filed of
farmer Ershadul Haque in village Darar Par under Sadar upazila in
Lalmonirhat.
With Gokunda Union Federation President Abdul Bari in the chair,
Deputy Director of Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE)
Lalmonirhat Abdul Mazid attended the ceremony as the chief guest and
launched crop cutting.
Assistant Agriculture Extension Officer of DAE Ismail Hossain
addressed the ceremony, participated by over 200 male and female
farmers of the area, as the special guest.
Sub-assistant Agriculture Officers of DAE Fulchan Mian and Krishna
Pado Sarker, Lalmonirhat Programme Manager of RDRS Bangladesh Ziaul
Haque, its Technical Officer Nirmal Kumar Kundu and farmer Ershadul
Haque spoke.
Assistant Agriculture Coordinator of the NGO Enamul Haque spoke about
the technology of short duration (100-110 days) parija paddy
cultivation during the Aus season adopting the short duration Aman
paddy-mustard-mug bean-parija-paddy cropping pattern.
RDRS Bangladesh has been expanding parija paddy cultivation under
assistance of Bangabandhu Agriculture University and Krishi Gabeshona
Foundation to increase rice production promoting four crops farming
annually on the same land.
“The farmers are getting 3.3 to 3.75 tonnes parija paddy yield per
hectare through farming during off season between late-May and
early-August after Boro harvest and before T-Aman transplantation
without affecting Boro or T-Aman cultivations,” he said.
He said harvest of the additional crop continues from July 25 to
August 10 and the farmers transplant of T-Aman seedlings in the same
land from August 15 to have four crop harvests from the same land
annually.
Programme Manager of RDRS Bangladesh Ziaul Haque said parija seeds
could be sowed using Direct Seeded Rice method to harvest in 90 days
or transplanted 20-day old seedlings to harvest in 75 days to get the
maximum yields.
The chief guest asked the framers for large-scale cultivation of the
eco-friendly parija paddy farming to increase rice production amid
adverse impacts of climate change to ensure national food security.
Agriculture and Environment Coordinator of RDRS Bangladesh Mamunur
Rashid on Friday said pariza can be cultivated in 35-lakh hectares
suitable land all over the country without supplementary irrigation to
produce additional 90-lakh tonnes paddy annually. –BSS, Lalmonirhat
