Winter is the important and golden time for planting Boro rice seedlings for the farmers of agriculture major Bangladesh. Therefore, ignoring the harshness of winter, the festival of Boro paddy planting is going on across Satkhira district. Farmers of Satkhira are having a busy time planting Boro paddy seedlings after breaking through the severe winter and winter fog.
Advance preparations for Boro paddy cultivation have started before the start of winter season. In the month of fall, the farmers have started the work of preparing seedbeds in advance. Farmers have started early planting of seed beds and paddy seedlings to bring home paddy safely from the storm. Due to lack of rain this season, some farmers are yet to build seed beds. Many of them are collecting rice seedlings from far away and planting them in the land.
In the current Boro season of 2022-23, about four lakh farmers of the district are planting rice seedlings of different varieties.
Among them, Ufshi variety 63, 67, 74, 81, 88, 89 and 92 and hybrid, SL 8, Hira-2, Tezgold, Ispahani 8 and Shakti including desi hybrid 28 varieties of paddy. Farmers produce Boro paddy with tireless labor in just three and a half months after planting, applying fertilizers and pesticides through machine irrigation.
According to the information source of Agriculture Extension Department Satkhira, the target of Boro cultivation has been set on 77 thousand 250 hectares of land in the district by setting a target of 4.05 MT of hybrid and Ufshi yield per hectare in the current Boro season.
Among them, 93 thousand 318 metric tons in 23 thousand 280 hectares of land in Satkhira Sadar, 49 thousand 930 metric tons in 12 thousand 555 hectares of land in Kalaroa, 79 thousand 644 metric tons in 19 thousand 555 hectares of land in Tala, 24 thousand 892 metric tons in 5 thousand 920 hectares of land in Debhata. , 23 thousand 929 metric tons in 6 thousand 5 hectares of land in Kaliganj, 32 thousand 350 metric tons in 7 thousand 750 hectares of land in Asashuni and 8 thousand 762 metric tons in 2 thousand 190 hectares of land in Shyamnagar. In the current season, it is expected to get 22 to 24 maunds of paddy at a cost of 10 to 12 thousand taka per bigha. Sources also said that in the current season, two packages of government incentives have distributed seeds and fertilizers free of cost to 20,000 Ufshi and 14,000 hybrid farmers among the nearly 4 lakh farmers in the district. Out of this, 5 kg of seeds and fertilizers and 2 kg of hybrid seeds have been distributed to each farmer. Various areas of the Upazila were visited on the surface, green crops were cultivated in different districts of the district. About 4 lakh farmers are directly involved in agriculture. They earn their livelihood by doing agricultural work.
Boro cultivation has been set in the target land of 77 thousand 250 ha in the district, but due to the high price of rice, Boro cultivation has been done in about 500 hectares more than the target land. Due to lack of waterlogging this year, Boro cultivation has been done on more land than the target everywhere in the Upazila.
Akter Hossain, Azizul Islam, Raihan, Jamal Ahmed, Hafizul Islam and Mintu Mia, rice farmers of different areas of all the Upazilas of the district said that there was no waterlogging due to low rainfall in the current season. For which no land used for agriculture will remain uncultivated. The government has also given us fertilizer seeds free of cost. If there are no natural calamities this year, the weather is good, there is less rice disease, there is no doubt that there will be a bumper crop of Boro rice in Satkhira.
Dr. Jamal Uddin, Deputy Director of Agriculture Extension Department, Satkhira, said that this year, 34 thousand farmers of the district have been provided free fertilizer and seeds in two incentives by the government. Flooding did not occur in any Upazila of Satkhira. Moreover, in disaster-prone areas, boro paddy cultivation will be possible as low-lying cultivated land is not submerged. Even during the peak season of Boro cultivation in the past few years, low-lying land remains submerged.
As a result, these waterlogged arable lands remain uncultivated. Farmers suffer. Farmers have emphasized on Boro paddy cultivation to overcome the loss due to waterlogging due to natural calamities this season. Planting of paddy seedlings is in progress with a target of production of 3 lakh 12 thousand 825 metric tons of paddy/rice in Boro plantations on about 78 thousand hectares of land in the district. Barring any major natural calamities, farmers will be more profitable this season at lower cost than last season and will exceed production targets.
