Netrakona Correspondent
A target of 135,900 hectares of land in the district has been set for the cultivation of Aman saplings in the current season. The target for rice production has been set at 425,895 metric tons. Although the Aman Abad planting season has begun, farmers are a bit worried about Aman Abad planting due to the lack of necessary rainfall in the beginning. However, due to sufficient rainfall over the past two weeks, farmers are happily busy preparing seedbeds, cultivating the land, and planting rice. They hope that if the weather is favorable, there will be a higher yield of Aman in the district this year. After visiting several villages in different upazilas of the district and talking to farmers, it was learned that as soon as the Aman rice seedlings grow in the seedbed, the land needs to be prepared for planting. This requires sufficient water in the field. Farmers have to rely on natural water sources such as rain to cultivate Aman rice. This saves farmers from irrigation costs. Due to the necessary rainfall in the last two weeks, sufficient water has accumulated in the land, and farmers are happily cultivating Aman in the land. Some farmers are cultivating the land with tractors. Some are clearing the weeds. Others are preparing the entire field and planting Aman rice seedlings in groups. Of the 10 upazilas of the district, 4 upazilas are inhabited by haors. Most of the land in the haor area remains submerged under water during the monsoon season. As a result, it is not possible to cultivate Aman rice in these haor areas. Since most farmers do not have their own tractors, they have to use someone else’s tractors to cultivate their land for a fixed fee per katha. Despite the lack of irrigation costs during the current Aman season, there is a shortage of agricultural workers. In rural areas, agricultural workers are no longer available as before. As a result, Aman rice is being planted by paying workers higher wages. They have to pay wages of five hundred to six hundred taka per katha due to limited space. Farmers in the district are now more interested in cultivating hybrid varieties of rice instead of indigenous rice. Akikur Reza Khan Khokon, a farmer from Roop Chandrapur village in Atpara upazila of the district, said that he will cultivate Aman rice on 30 kathas of land this year. He has already planted Aman rice seedlings on 10 kathas of land. The cost of rice cultivation is increasing due to the increase in the prices of seed rice, fertilizer, pesticides, and agricultural laborers’ wages. Abul Mia, a farmer from Dulli village in Kendua upazila, said that with the increase in the price of everything, there is not much profit in producing paddy per katha, excluding the cost. Many times, the amount of expenditure and the market price of the rice produced become almost equal. As a result, farmers are losing interest in rice cultivation. If agricultural loans, incentives, seeds and fertilizers are made available on easy terms, farmers will be more interested in rice cultivation. Deputy Director of the Netrokona Agricultural Extension Department, agronomist Mohammad Nuruzzaman, said, “A target of planting Aman on 135,900 hectares of land in Netrokona district has been set for the current Aman season.” The target for rice production has been set at 425,895 metric tons. As of Saturday, Aman rice seedlings have been planted on 35,500 hectares of land in the district. The planting activities will continue until the last week of September. “To ensure that farmers can use a balanced amount of fertilizer on their land, there is one BCIC dealer in each union and one sub-dealer in each ward. Adequate amount of fertilizer has been allocated in their names.”