Bumper boro harvest on horizon
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Bumper boro harvest on horizon
This boro season is expected to see a bumper harvest of the rice variety with a possibility of surpassing the Department of Agricultural Extension's (DAE) yield projection of 1.75 crore metric tons (MT).
DAE officials, however, said bacterial leaf streak (BLS) and bacterial leaf blight (BLB) infested about 26,000 to 27,000 hectares of boro fields in 32 south and south-western districts where the crop is standing on 26 lakh hectares of land.
"This is negligible. The infected fields hold less than one percent of the total production. Besides, a massive awareness campaign has already been launched to check the spread of the bacterial infections," said DAE Acting Director General Dr Shahidul Islam.
DAE officials nonetheless cautioned that the outbreak might spread if strong nor'westers with heavy rain hit the country before the harvest starts by the end of this month.
Meteorologist Ayesha Khatun said quoting from an expert committee report that two depressions might form on the Bay of Bengal this month with the possibility of one of them turning into a tornado.
The depressions might also cause 10 to 15 percent more rainfall than usual while nor'westers might pound the mid and northern part of the country for about a week.
The boro production target for this year was set at 1.75 crore MT, but the DAE is now expecting an excess yield of about 5 lakh MT, the officials said adding that growers cultivated the variety on several thousand more hectares of land than the targeted 45 lakh hectares, reported our Rajshahi correspondent.
Last year, about 1.59 crore MT of boro was harvested from 43 lakh hectares of land. Boro meets the major share of the country's 2.50 crore MT annual demand for rice, while 60 percent of the variety comes from the northern region.
Dr Shahidul Islam said to help the growers fight back the outbreak of bacterial infections, experts from Agriculture University and Bangladesh Rice Research Institute were sent to the affected areas, where they are advising the farmers to drain out water from the boro fields and to spray the crop with potash to curb the effects of excessive urea.
"The bacterial infections occurred due to excessive use of urea. This year growers used about 28 lakh metric tons of urea while 22 to 25 lakh tonnes were used in previous years," the acting DAE chief said.
Additional Director of DAE for Rajshahi Abdul Matin said the crop was cultivated on 5 percent more land than targeted. "We are expecting a 10 percent extra yield if no calamity occurs."
Hazrat Ali, a DAE training officer in Lalmonirhat, said some 52,452 hectares of land were brought under boro cultivation there, only 81 hectares of which were infected by the bacterial diseases.
DAE officials, however, said bacterial leaf streak (BLS) and bacterial leaf blight (BLB) infested about 26,000 to 27,000 hectares of boro fields in 32 south and south-western districts where the crop is standing on 26 lakh hectares of land.
"This is negligible. The infected fields hold less than one percent of the total production. Besides, a massive awareness campaign has already been launched to check the spread of the bacterial infections," said DAE Acting Director General Dr Shahidul Islam.
DAE officials nonetheless cautioned that the outbreak might spread if strong nor'westers with heavy rain hit the country before the harvest starts by the end of this month.
Meteorologist Ayesha Khatun said quoting from an expert committee report that two depressions might form on the Bay of Bengal this month with the possibility of one of them turning into a tornado.
The depressions might also cause 10 to 15 percent more rainfall than usual while nor'westers might pound the mid and northern part of the country for about a week.
The boro production target for this year was set at 1.75 crore MT, but the DAE is now expecting an excess yield of about 5 lakh MT, the officials said adding that growers cultivated the variety on several thousand more hectares of land than the targeted 45 lakh hectares, reported our Rajshahi correspondent.
Last year, about 1.59 crore MT of boro was harvested from 43 lakh hectares of land. Boro meets the major share of the country's 2.50 crore MT annual demand for rice, while 60 percent of the variety comes from the northern region.
Dr Shahidul Islam said to help the growers fight back the outbreak of bacterial infections, experts from Agriculture University and Bangladesh Rice Research Institute were sent to the affected areas, where they are advising the farmers to drain out water from the boro fields and to spray the crop with potash to curb the effects of excessive urea.
"The bacterial infections occurred due to excessive use of urea. This year growers used about 28 lakh metric tons of urea while 22 to 25 lakh tonnes were used in previous years," the acting DAE chief said.
Additional Director of DAE for Rajshahi Abdul Matin said the crop was cultivated on 5 percent more land than targeted. "We are expecting a 10 percent extra yield if no calamity occurs."
Hazrat Ali, a DAE training officer in Lalmonirhat, said some 52,452 hectares of land were brought under boro cultivation there, only 81 hectares of which were infected by the bacterial diseases.
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