An extensive plan has been undertaken to cultivate T-Aman paddy in all the seven upazilas of the food surplus district successfully during the current season.
Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) office sources said a total of 1,33020 hectares of land would be brought under T-Aman paddy cultivation this year with the production target of 3,96,407 tonnes of rice.
Of the total target, some 1, 808 21, hectares of land would be brought under high yield variety paddy with a production target of 21,640 tonnes of rice, 5,740 hectares would be cultivated hybrid variety with a production target of 21,640 tonnes rice and 5,472 hectares of land would be brought under local variety paddy with a production target of 10, 561 tonnes of rice, the sources said.
The upazila-wise breakup of the land is 18,871 hectares of land have been brought under the cultivation in Sadar upazila, 16,310 in Sadullapur upazila, 13,838 in Palashbari upazila, 31,333 in Gobindaganj upazila, 29, 852 in Sundarganj upazila, 13,821 in Saghata upazila and 9,095 hectares of land have been brought under the cultivation in Fulchhari upazila of the district.
Meanwhile, to bring the land under the farming of T-Aman paddy, the farmers of the district have already prepared a seedbed of 7,089 hectares of land where the seedlings have grown well.
Earlier, to make the farming programme a grand success, Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC) and its approved dealers 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 have taken initiatives to disburse agro-loan on easy terms to the poor and marginal farmers to help them cultivate T-Aman paddy without economical hardship, said a bank official.
In addition, the DAE has been conducting training for the farmers for adopting modern technologies of paddy cultivation, crop management, judicious use of fertilizer and preservation of quality seed, said Rostam Ali, acting district training officer of the DAE here.
To ensure the production of T-Aman paddy in the district this year, Barind Multipurpose Development Authority (BMDA) has also kept its electricity run 365 deep tube wells fully ready to supply irrigation water to the Aman paddy field, if necessary, said an engineer of the BMDA.
Talking to BSS, Deputy Director of the DAE Krishibid Khorshed Alam Sarker said necessary measures had been taken for availability of fertilizers, insecticides and other agro inputs at the grass-root level of the district during the current Aman season.
