RDRS Bangladesh has introduced rice seedling transplanter machines here on trial basis under Sustainable and Resilient Farming Systems Intensification (SRFSI) Project during this Boro season at two research farms. The NGO has been implementing the project since May 2014 in Rangpur and Dinajpur under funding of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT) and Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR).The On-Farm Research Division (OFRD) of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) and Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) are the partner organisations in the implementation process of this project. Talking to BSS, Agriculture and Environment Coordinator of RDRS Bangladesh Mamunur Rashid said two demonstration plots have been set up on Boro rice cultivation using rice transplanter machines at Manthona and Alamnagar research farms in the city.
Transplantation of Boro seedling using rice transplanter machines allows the farmers in covering more land area in less time with less labour, reducing burden, achieving uniform spacing and plant density and placing of desired number of seedling. The rice transplanter machines ensure uniform depth of transplanted seedling those recover fast and vigorously to ensure healthier and faster growth of the tender plants to ultimately yield better rice production, he said.Project Coordinator of the SRFSI Project of RDRS Bangladesh Rashedul Islam and Principal Scientific Officer of the OFRD of BARI at its Rangpur Regional Station Dr. Mazharul Anwar also narrated benefits of using rice transplanter machines.
> Project Coordinator of the SRFSI Project of RDRS Bangladesh Rashedul Islam said the time between crop harvesting and next crop planting becomes shorter due to increasing crop intensity under changed climatic patterns due to global warming. “As a result, rice production is being critically influenced by the appropriate time for seeding and transplanting periods,” he said adding that rice cultivation is a labour-intensive task that could not be accomplished easily.Land preparation, transplantation of seedling and harvest of rice are expensive and time-consuming operations for successful rice cultivation as labour cost accounts the biggest input cost for rice production, he said. Principal Scientific Officer of the OFRD of BARI at its Rangpur Regional Station Dr. Mazharul Anwar said industrialisation, migration of agricultural labourers to other jobs and high labour wages have become the bigger threats for sustainable rice production as well as food security.Besides, labour crisis and high wages of the farm-labourers have been becoming very critical particularly during the peak labour-need periods, which typically occurs during rice seedling transplanting and harvesting periods.To overcome this situation and make farm- activities more profitable, RDRS Bangladesh has introduced rice seedling transplanters for rice cultivation during the Boro season under its SRFSI Project in Rangpur, he said.The experts said use of seedling transplanter machines would become popular among farmers in the country in near future to ease the process of rice seedling transplantation reducing costs saving time to make rice cultivation more profitable. -BSS, Rangpur
