Rain in early monsoon had delighted the Aus farmers in Jhenaidah when the natural rainfall of monsoon was available after a long time. It will help grown the farming for the rain water dependent rice, said the farmers. The farmers have brought additional 17 percent land under the farming than the previous season.
15 milimetre rainfall in third week of June and 71 milimetre in fourth week of June and July 1 and 2 had encouraged the Aus farmers, said the agriculture office spurces.
The officials of the department of agriculture (DAE) have been terming the rainfall as the blessings of the nature. They said the farmers will produce 141,281 tones of rice on their 44,150 hectares of land. Providing incentives like seeds, fertilizers, cash money for caring and other input supply has encouraged the farmers to bring the additional land i0n the season. Each hectare of land will provide 3.20 tons of rice on an average which was 36,838 hectares in the last season, said the DAE sources.
A number of Aus farmers taking care of their newly transplanted paddy at a field of village Sastibar in Shailkupa upazila of Jhenaidah when contacted said the Aus farming always a rainwater dependent crop requires huge rainwater in the monsoon. But they were worried much as the availability of the monsoon rainfall was almost unseen till the last day of Bengali month Jaisthya.
They said most of the farmers have increased the area of Aus farming in the season as the government had sanctioned adequate seeds, fertilizers, caring money and other agriculture input for the Aus like past seasons. According to the farmers if the natural water was not available anyway, they will have to hand over 20 percent of the crop to the farmers engaged in supplying irrigation water through their pumps for the crop in a season. It would increase their production cost and throw them in financial loss, they said.
According to the office sources of the DAE in Jhenaidah, the farmers in Jhenaidah Sadar have been cultivating the Aus on 2,760 hectares, Kaliganj farmers on 2,500 hectares, Kotchandpur farmers on 5,225 hectares, bordering Moheshpur farmers on 16,670 hectares, Shailkupa farmers on 15,625 hectares and Harinakundu farmers on remaining 1,370 hectares of land. Production target on each hectare of land was estimated for 3.20 tons of rice as against previous season’s 3.19 tones. The farmers had produced seedbeds on a total of 2,187 hectares of land in the season to meet their demand, DAE sources said.
DAE deputy director in Jhenaidah Khamarbari Asgar Ali when contacted said the farmers in the district are very caring for their crops. The seedlings produced in the district might meet partial demand of the saplings in neighboring Magura, Chuadanga and a part of Jashore. It will help strengthen their socio-economic state of the farmers, DAE deputy director said.
