Bad weather hampering Boro harvest
Rice yield is likely to dwindle to some extent in eight districts of Rajshahi division during this Boro season due to bad weather during the harvest period, officials and farmers said. Good weather persisted during the sowing and cultivation period, but the storms and rains started partially damaging crops in many areas since the harvest began in mid-April. Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) which warned farmers of more storms till the end of May is also another reason for crop damage in storms. Farmers cannot harvest Boro paddy before the storms as many of them cultivate additional crops before the proper sowing period of Boro paddy. This leads to crop damage, they said. Such as farmers in Rajshahi cultivate potatoes before boro and mustard in the Chalan beel areas covering Natore, Pabna and Sirajganj districts, delaying the boro cultivation, they said. The DAE has recorded a yield of 3.99 tonnes of rice per hectare as they accounted for a harvest of 31 per cent of 8,20,981 h