Boro output to make record if no calamity hits: Minister

Irrigation water being lifted in a field in Bangladesh.

Jehangir Hussain

Agriculture Minister Dr Md Abdur Razzaque expressed the hope on Wednesday that this year boro rice production will make a new record if no natural calamities occur at harvest time.

“Boro rice has been grown on around 50 lakh hectares across the country. The farmers in the haor belt have already reaped around 35 per cent of the crop. The harvest would be completed in the haor region within the current month. “Once the crop is reaped, a new production record would be set.” he said speaking at boro harvest  festival and exchanging greetings with farmers of Dekar Haor in Shantiganj upazila in Sunamganj organised by the district administration and the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE).

Besides Dr Razzaque, Planning Minister Abdul Mannan, the local MP, and Deputy Minister for Water Resources AKM Enamul Haque Shamim attended the boro harvest festival with local farmers, according to a press release of the Agriculture Ministry.

“To facilitate harvest in the haor region, the government has taken various measures,” Razzaque said, adding, “Already 35 percent of the harvest has been completed using 1,000 combine harvesters in Sunamganj alone. The government has taken steps to make rice production in the haor region safe and worry-free, by providing combine harvesters on 70 per cent subsidy, and for growing short duration, cold-tolerant early rice varieties."

Razzaque requested farmers to grow new high yielding, BRI-81, BRI-89, and BRI-92 instead of the old BRI28 and BRI29, saying that the new rice varieties need at least 15 days less to grow than the old varieties. The farmers would benefit by growing the new varieties, he added.

According to the Department of Agricultural Extension, boro rice was cultivated on 50 lakh hectares this year, with a production target of 2.15  crore tonnes.

Razzaque said that Tk170 crore was given as incentive this year to increase boro acreage and production, to benefit about 2.7 lakh farmers across the country.

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