Farmers in the Rangpur agricultural region have begun harvesting the early varieties of short-duration aman rice with good yield, creating job opportunities for agricultural labourers.
On this occasion, farmers鈥� families in many villages are celebrating the centuries-old traditional 鈥楴abanna鈥� festival by preparing various types of delicious cakes and other foods, including 鈥楤hapa Pitha.鈥�
The early harvesting of short-term aman rice is also helping small and marginal farmers and creating employment for agricultural workers, helping to combat the seasonal lean period during the months of Ashwin and Kartik in the region.
Officials of the Department of Agricultural Extension said that expanded cultivation of short-duration aman rice was launched in 2006, aiming to create jobs for farm labourers through early harvest of the crop during the seasonal lean period.
Earlier, the lack of agricultural work in the farmlands during Ashwin and Kartik created poverty-like conditions, locally known as 鈥楳anga鈥�, which had caused untold misery to the poor and farm labourers for decades.
Acting additional director of the DAE for the Rangpur agricultural region, Md Sirajul Islam, said that a target of producing 20,10,505 tonnes of clean aman rice, 30,15,757 tonnes in terms of paddy, has been set from 6,20,430 hectares of land for the region this season.
The farmers finally transplanted aman rice seedlings on 6,21,505 hectares of land, exceeding the targeted area for cultivation in the region,鈥� he said.
Of this, short-duration varieties of aman rice were cultivated on over 62,000 hectares of land across the five districts of Rangpur, Gaibandha, Kurigram, Lalmonirhat and Nilphamari.
Of the total cultivated land, short-duration aman rice on 2,200 hectares has already been harvested till Friday, with an average yield of 2.89 tonnes of clean aman rice, 4.335 tonnes of paddy, per hectare.
Beginning in October, harvesting of short-duration aman rice will continue until the end of November.
鈥楢fter harvesting short-duration aman rice, farmers will cultivate early varieties of potato, mustard, vegetables, and other winter crops on the same land to increase crop intensity and earn higher profits,鈥� Sirajul Islam said.
Independence Award-winning rice scientist MA Mazid said that the early harvest of short-duration aman rice followed by cultivation of early winter crops on the same land created significant employment during the seasonal lean period.
The DAE, Bangladesh Rice Research and other organisations have made maximum efforts to expand short-duration aman rice farming since 2006 to eliminate seasonal unemployment in the Rangpur region.
鈥楲arge-scale cultivation of short-duration Aman rice has successfully eliminated the seasonal lean period of Ashwin and Kartik months since 2010,鈥� Mazid, also former BRRI chief scientific officer, added.
Farmers Manik Mia, Abdur Rahim, Lokman Hossain, Mokhlesur Rahman and Sekendar Ali of sadar, Badarganj and Taraganj upazilas in Rangpur said that they had already harvested short-duration aman rice and obtained excellent yields.
They are also receiving good market prices for newly harvested aman paddy, ranging between Tk 1,200 and Tk 1,250 per mound.
In addition to meeting farmers鈥� food needs with newly harvested rice, raw paddy straw is also being used as livestock feed. There is strong demand for raw paddy straw in the livestock sector.
Currently, farmers are selling raw paddy straw produced from one bigha of land in the local market for Tk 5,000 to Tk 6,000, earning additional income.