Rangpur Correspondent:

Farmers have produced 1,84,603 tonnes of clean Aush rice (2,76,905 tonnes in terms of paddy) in all five districts of Rangpur agriculture region during the just-ended Kharif-1 season.

Officials of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) said a target of producing 1,91,460 tonnes of clean Aush rice (2,87,190 tonnes in terms of paddy) from 63,255 hectares of land for Rangpur agriculture region this time.

“However, farmers finally brought 61,163 hectares of land under Aush rice cultivation, less by 2,092 hectares against the fixed farming target,” Additional Director of the DAE for Rangpur region Md Sirajul Islam told journalist on Monday

Farmers completed harvesting their cultivated Aush rice last week producing 1,84,603 tonnes of clean rice at an excellent average yield rate of 3.02 tonnes per hectare of land.

Despite the adverse effects of climate change, the farming and production of Aush rice is increasing as a result of the government’s pragmatic steps through the DAE and other agriculture-related organisations and intuitions to ensure food security.

The steps include distribution of special incentives in terms of high-yielding variety seeds and fertilisers among small and marginal farmers, conducting motivational campaigns, providing training and technical support to them.

“Farmers are showing more interest in cultivating Aush rice as an additional crop during the off-season after harvesting Boro rice and before planting Aman rice seedlings to increase rice production across the region” Krishibid Md Sirajul Islam said.

In 2024, farmers produced 1,84,617 tonnes of clean Aush rice (2,76,925 tonnes in terms of paddy) from 61,782 hectares of land in the region.

Besides, farmers produced 1,84,600 tonnes of clean Aush rice from 61,782 hectares of land in 2023 and 1,78,777 tonnes from 63,680 hectares in 2022 in the region.

Noted rice-scientist Dr Md Abdul Mazid, a recipient of the Independence Award-2018 (food security), expressed satisfaction with the expansion of Aush rice cultivation in this region every year.

He also lauded the initiatives taken by the authorities concerned to promote less irrigation water consuming Aush rice cultivation for producing additional rice.

Dr Mazid, also a former Chief Scientific Officer of Bangladesh Rice Research Institute, said that farmers are completing Aush rice harvest after Boro rice cultivation and easily cultivating Aman rice on the same land every year.

Farmers are cultivating Aush rice as an additional cereal crop using unused rainwater during the off-season in the months of April, May and June when croplands mostly remain fallow and contributing to attain sustainable food security.

He suggested farmers to further increase Aush rice farming using unused seasonal rain waters during the off season as an additional crop to increase rice production amid changing climate without hampering Aman cultivation.

Local farmers Ariful Haque, Manik Mia and Mofizar Rahman of different villages in Rangpur expressed satisfaction at the current market price of newly harvested Aush paddy ranging between Taka 1,250 and Taka 1,300 per mound.