Cultivation of T-Aman paddy, a high value crop, has been achieved in all the seven
upazilas of the district during the current season with an expectation of bumper
production.
Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) set a target to cultivate T-Aman paddy on
a total of 1, 22, 227 hectares of land in the district this year with the production target of
4,64,000 tonnes of paddy.
The cultivation target was fully achieved after blissful rainfall and for favorable climatic
condition though the transplantation of Aman seedlings was hampered at the initial ad
middle stage of the season due to prevailing drought like situation.
Of the total, some 17,350 hectares of land were brought under T-Aman cultivation in
Sadar Upazila, 18,900 in Sadullapur Upazila, 14,250 in Palashbari Upazila, 30,600 in
Gobindaganj Upazila, 25,345 in Sundarganj Upazila, 14,770 in Shagata Upazila and
6,135 in Fulchhari Upazila of the district during the season, sources said.
The transplanted seedlings of Aman paddy have already grown well and the paddy fields
are tuning into greenish look day by day. The growers are so much busy in nurturing the
paddy field with the hopes of getting desired production of the crops this season.
In order to make the cultivation programme a grand success, Bangladesh Agricultural
Development Corporation and Barind Multipurpose Development Authority (BMDA)
distributed high quality Aman seed to the farmers of the district at fair prices.
Besides, different state run commercial banks including Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank
are disbursing agri loans on easy terms to the poor and marginal farmers of the district to
help them cultivate the T-Aman paddy on their land this season, sources said.
In addition, DAE has been conducting training for the farmers for adopting modern
technologies of paddy cultivation, crop management and preservation of quality seed,
said Shamsul Bari, district training officer of DAE.
To ensure the production of T-Aman paddy in the district this year, BMDA has also kept
its electricity run 185 deep tube wells fully ready to supply irrigation water to the Aman
paddy field, if necessary, said executive engineer M. Noor Islam. Talking to the BSS
deputy director (DD) of DAE Mir Abdur Razzak said the target fixed by the department
must be exceeded as a good number of farmers living on river basins under Sundarganj,
Sadar, Fuchhari and Saghata upazilas would cultivate late varieties including Ganzia
paddy on their char land till September 15.
In reply to a question DD Mir Abdur Razzak said availability of fertilizers, insecticides
and other necessary agri inputs has been ensured at the grass root level of the district
during the current Aman season. -BSS, Gaibandha
