RAJSHAHI, – More than 5.19 lakh tonnes of wheat are expected to be produced from around 1.46 lakh hectares of land during the current season in all eight districts under Rajshahi division which has tradition of yielding the grain crop significantly.
Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) has set the target of producing 3.77 lakh tonnes of wheat from 1.05 lakh hectares of land in four
districts of Rajshahi Agricultural Zone while 1.42 lakh tonnes from 41,455 hectares in four districts of Bogura Agricultural Zone.
The DAE has disbursed seeds and fertilizers worth around Taka 3.38 crore free of cost among 17,000 poor and marginal farmers for wheat farming under the government’s agricultural incentive programme in the division, said Deb Dulal Dhali, Additional Director of DAE.
Various other government and non-government entities have adopted diversified steps to make farming a total success in the region as it’s suitable for the crop for its water-saving and drought tolerant features.
Barind Multipurpose Development Authority (BMDA), an ever-largest irrigation providing state-run organization in the country’s northwest
region, has full preparation to promote the water-saving crop in the region to mitigate its water-stressed condition.
BMDA under its ‘Quality Seed Production, Distribution & Farmers’ Training Project for crop production Project’ has supplied 80 tonnes of foundation
wheat seeds among the farmers, said Engineer Abdur Rashid, Executive Director of BMDA.
More than 12.58 lakh community people of 2.66 lakh households are being motivated and encouraged towards promoting the wheat like water-saving crops with intervention of the ‘Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM)’ project.
The project is being implemented by DASCOH Foundation in around 1,280 drought-hit villages under 39 Union Parishads and three municipalities of
eight upazilas in Rajshahi, Naogaon and Chapainawabganj districts since 2014, said Akramul Haque, chief executive officer of DASCOH Foundation.
He, however, said successful promotion of less-water consuming crops in the Barind area would play a vital role to lessen the gradually mounting
pressure on its underground water. Rajshahi Regional Office of Bangladesh Wheat and Maize Research Institute (BWMRI) developed 320 demonstration plots on farmers’ fields.
Prior to this, 320 farmers were given 5.5 tonnes of breeder seeds and 8.5 tonnes of truthfully labelled seeds of some high yielding, heat and drought
tolerant and blast disease resistant varieties like Barigom 28, 29, 30 and 33 along with recommended fertilizers for the projection plots free of cost.
The farmers including 69 field-level DAE officials were imparted training on how will produce wheat properly using the modern seeds and technologies.
Dr Ilias Hossain, Principal Scientific Officer of BWMRI, told BSS that the Barigom 33 is the ever latest variety which is blast disease resistant,
zinc-enriched, large grain size and high yielding (20 maunds per bigha).
He said most of the farmers have already completed their seed-sowing activities as the period from November 15 to December 5 is the optimum for
seed sowing.
Dr Hossain, however, said the farmers who will sow wheat seed after harvesting the late varieties of transplanted aman paddy can avail the scopes
of sowing some late varieties of wheat like Barigom 28, 30 and 32 until December 10 for comparatively better yield.
Like the previous couple of years, wheat farming will exceed the target set by the DAE in the region, he expected.
