Farmers
Cyclone Mocha looms over Bay: DAE asks farmers to harvest paddy, other crops early
The Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) of Bangladesh has asked the farmers to harvest 80% ripe paddy, mango and other crops to avoid damages by potential cyclonic storm Mocha.
It also asked the officials concerned to take necessary steps for mass campaign so that farmers can take precautionary measures, said a press release of the DAE issued on Tuesday (May 09, 2023).
Also read: Depression over southeast Bay intensifies into deep depression
DAE also asked the agriculture officers to provide necessary advices to the farmers saying at their respective work place round the clock and follow the Bangladesh Agro-Metrological Information Service (BAMIS) portal to get any update about weather condition.
According to the latest Met office prediction, the depression over the Bay of Bengal may intensify into a cyclonic storm by May 12 or May 13 and in that case there is a possibility of huge damage of crops, it said.
Read More: Low pressure area intensifies into well-marked low over Bay: Met office.
Salinity-tolerant rice cultivation brings delight to Barguna farmers
Farmers in the coastal region of Barguna are rejoicing over their successful yield of salt-tolerant Bri varieties rice.
At Amratala village, located in Kalmegha Union of Patharghata Upazila, where growing crops is typically challenging, local farmers have reported good yields of Bri 67, 74, and 97 rice varieties.
Talking to UNB, local farmers, who hope to harvest 23-24 maunds of paddy per bigha, have expressed their satisfaction with the results.
Badal Howladar, a local farmer, expressed his satisfaction with the results, saying that the Bri rice varieties have done very well in the salinity-hit area.
Also Read: Bangladeshi scientists unveil full genome sequence of salinity, flood-tolerant rice
The farmers said they cultivated the rice varieties for the first time during the Boro season in 2022-23as per the recommendation of the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI).
The farmers have been growing the rice under the supervision of the Irrigation and Water Management Department of the BRRI.
To showcase the successful cultivation of salinity-tolerant Bri Dhan 67, Bri Dhan 74, and Bri Dhan 97 rice varieties, the BRRI organized a farmers' field day and harvesting exhibition on the fallow land in Amratala village recvently.
Director General of the BRRI Dr. Md. Shahjahan Kabir and its senior scientific officer Dr Devjit Roy , among others, visited the filed.
Also Read: How salinity taking toll on coastal people in Satkhira
Dr. Md. Shahjahan Kabir said the institute has developed many high-yielding and salinity-tolerant rice varieties, including Bri 67 and Bri 97.
These varieties can withstand high salinity levels and have a lifespan of 140-145 days, he said.
Kabir added that the successful cultivation of these rice varieties in coastal salinity-hit areas like Barguna district through improved water management could play a vital role in the country's food security.
On a remote char in country's poorest district, watermelon cultivation transforms lives
Watermelon cultivation has started in the remote char area of the Brahmaputra River in Kurigram.
Although watermelon cultivation started on an experimental basis last year, the number of farmers signing up to the this time. The yield has also been as expected. Farmers are hoping for double the profit if there is no flood in advance this year.
However, if the government comes forward in marketing and banks provide loans with easy instalments, the misery of the people of the char area can be erased, or at least eased.
Also read: Rain, hailstorm worry Khulna watermelon growers
According to the Kurigram Department of Agricultural Extension, there are about 450 chars in 16 rivers in the district. There are about 45,000 hectares of cultivable land. Of these, farmers are starting cultivation on 35,000 hectares of land in 368 chars. Maize, watermelon, sweet pumpkin, cucumber and pepper have been cultivated in these char areas.
Last year, watermelon was cultivated on 50 acres of land in Char Bagua village of Hatia union of Ulipur upazila of the district. In the early floods, 40 acres of crops were submerged and damaged. Yet the farmers did not stop. This year watermelon has been cultivated on 34 hectares of land in the char.
Farmers have also started harvesting watermelons. Due to favorable weather conditions, the yield has also been as expected. As a result, they are hoping to make a good profit this time after overcoming last year's loss. However, the biggest obstacle to commercial cultivation in the char is marketing management. Besides, many farmers have left the land after being unable to cultivate these crops despite the desire, the banks not providing loans to the common farmers.
Read More: Floating vegetable farmers in Pirojpur devastated by low prices
Dashim Uddin of Bagua Char said three enterprising farmers have cultivated watermelon on 40 acres of land in this char. As a result of getting a large amount of loan from the bank, they have got the opportunity to cultivate on a large scale. Many farmers here have become interested in their farming, but they are not able to come forward due to economic reasons.
Abdur Sabur, who cultivated watermelon, said, “Although watermelon was cultivated on an experimental basis last year, the watermelon field was washed away in the early floods. This year, I have cultivated watermelon on 14 acres of land. It cost me Tk6-7 lakh. I hope to pick up 20,000 watermelons. This will earn me an additional income of Tk6-7 lakh. However, the problem here is marketing watermelon. Wholesalers come here and buy watermelons at a lower price. If we could take melons to the city and sell, we would have made more profits. More farmers would have come forward to cultivate watermelon.”
Read More: Bagerhat fruit farmer eyes foreign markets to expand thriving business
The farmer also said watermelon seeds should be sown at the beginning of the month of Paush. After four months, watermelon can be lifted in the middle of chaitra month. There are some precautions to be taken in watermelon cultivation. In the sand land, a hole of one and a half feet in the 10-inch by 10-inch square has to be given some loamy soil, dung fertilizer and DSP in the pit. Forty grams should be given in each pit. In this way, after keeping it for a week, three seeds are sown in a pit. In addition, regularly insecticides have to be sprayed to protect against the attack of insects and rats.
Abul Hossain Master, former chairman of Hatia Union, said at present, local entrepreneurs in the char area have become interested in cultivating various agricultural products. Due to economic problems, the rest of the farmers are unable to come forward. “Their misery would go away if banks and NGOs come forward.”
Additional Deputy Director (Crops) of Kurigram DAE, Md Azizul Islam, said watermelon cultivation has started in the district since last year. Watermelon has been cultivated on 22,000 hectares of land this year. There is a plan to set up a collection center in the char areas so that the farmers do not suffer for marketing.
Read More: Exporters want green signal for commercial cultivation of King Prawn
Farmers, environmental activists hold demos in The Hague
Thousands of farmers and other anti-establishment demonstrators protested Saturday in a park in The Hague against Dutch government plans to reduce nitrate emissions, while elsewhere in the city climate activists angry at what they call state support for the fossil fuel industry broke through police lines to block a major road.
The simultaneous demonstrations — a few kilometers (miles) from one another — come days before Dutch voters go to the polls in provincial elections Wednesday that indirectly also elect the national parliament’s upper house and could have an effect on proposals for reducing nitrate pollution.
Police said they stopped an unknown number of tractors that were headed for the farmers' demonstration. The municipality banned all but two “symbolic” tractors from participating, citing safety concerns.
As thousands of people, many carrying the upside-down Dutch flags that have become synonymous with farmers' protests and balloons emblazoned with the logo of the far-right Forum for Democracy party, gathered peacefully in front of a stage for the demonstration, the two permitted tractors drove slowly across the park.
Earlier, Rotterdam broadcaster Rijnmond showed video of a convoy of tractors crossing the city’s Erasmus Bridge early Saturday, apparently on their way to The Hague. One of the tractors was emblazoned with a banner saying in Dutch “#proudofthefarmer.”
As the farmers were gathering in a park in the south of the city, Mayor Jan van Zanen gave police permission to use a water cannon on Extinction Rebellion protesters who blocked a major highway in the downtown area near where it runs past the temporary home of the Dutch parliament.
Police said demonstrators who refuse to leave the road would be detained. The highway was blocked in both directions, but police did not immediately use the water cannon.
The twin demonstrations prompted authorities to place army trucks near some crossroads ready to block the streets if tractors or other protest vehicles tried to drive into the city center.
Anger at moves to cut nitrate emissions have spread from the Netherlands to other European nations. Just over a week ago, farmers drove hundreds of tractors into the heart of the Belgian capital, Brussels, snarling traffic.
At protests in recent years, farmers have driven hundreds of tractors into the center of The Hague and also used them to blockade supermarket warehouses.
The government has said that nitrate emissions, which are produced by livestock, transport and industry, must be drastically reduced close to nature areas that are part of a network of protected habitats for endangered plants and wildlife stretching across the 27-nation European Union.
The coalition wants to cut emissions of pollutants, predominantly nitrates, by 50% nationwide by 2030. Ministers call the proposal an “unavoidable transition” that aims to improve air, land and water quality, and have warned that it will mean "that not all farmers can continue their business.”
Padma Bank to loan farmers on easy terms for food security
The Padma Bank Limited will provide loans at 4 percent interest rate to farmers to increase production in the agricultural sector in the country.
This loan will be given under a fund titled "5000 crore refinancing scheme for agriculture sector to ensure food security of the country" formed by Bangladesh Bank (BB), said a press release on Wednesday.
It said an agreement was signed between the Bangladesh Bank and the Padma Bank to disburse the loans on easy terms.
Read more: Money transfer from Padma Bank to bKash made easy
In November last year, the central bank formed a refinance scheme of Tk5,000 crore for farmers as part of the government’s efforts to stave off food scarcity amid a looming global crisis in 2023 stemmed from the Russia-Ukraine war.
Abul Kalam Azad, director to Agriculture Credit Division of the central bank and Faisal Ahsan Chowdhury, managing director (Current Charge) of Padma Bank, signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organisations in the presence of BB Governor Abdur Rauf Talukdar at Jahangir Alam Conference Hall of the BB’s head office.
AKM Sajedur Rahman Khan, deputy governor of the central bank, its Executive Director (Agricultural Credit Department) Md Anwarul Islam and senior officials from both organisations were present during the signing ceremony.
Read more: BB releases Tk100 commemorative notes to mark Padma Bridge opening
Farmers will be able to take loans for production of paddy, fisheries, vegetables, fruits, flowers, poultry and dairy items under the livestock sector.
Undisbursed portion of agriculture and rural loans will be disbursed to farmers by Bangladesh Bank body
Bangladesh Bank (BB) has decided to form a Bangladesh Bank Agricultural Development Common Fund (BBADCF) to utilize the undisbursed portion of agriculture and rural loans for an acceleration of farm production.k
The Agriculture Credit Department (ACD) of BB issued a circular in this regard and sent it to the top executives of banks on Monday with immediate effect.
The circular stated that banks would deposit money equivalent to the undisbursed amount of farm and rural loans in the BBADCF, and BB would use the fund giving 2 percent interest on the deposits.
Then the money of the BBADCF would be distributed among banks considering the capacity of the depositors’ bank. The banks would pay back the loans to the BB, along with 2 percent interest rate, within 18 months of the fund being released.
Read more: BB disburses Tk 4000 crore as liquidity support to 5 Islami banks
The scheduled banks can disburse loans of BBADCF money among the farmers using respective banks’ networks and can charge an 8 percent interest rate to the farmers’ level. But the banks cannot disburse the loan to microfinance institutions (MFIs), the notification said.
The lender banks have to form a ‘Risk Mitigation Fund’ with 1.0 percent of disbursed loans from BBADC funds.
Banks would be allowed to transfer 4 percentage points of the interest to their income segment on the loans made from the fund.
The BB announced a new agricultural credit policy with a target of Tk 30,911 crore for the current financial year. The target is 8.88 percent higher than the previous year’s target Tk 28,391 crore.
Considering the increased demand for agricultural and rural credit, the disbursement target for the state-owned and specialized commercial banks is fixed at Tk11,758 crore and for the private and foreign commercial banks is fixed at Tk19,153 crore.
Read more: Monetary policy twice a year: BB
The ACD of BB announced the 'Agricultural and Rural Credit Policy’ in July, giving importance to increasing agriculture production considering the Covid-19 pandemic and recent global situation.
In the previous FY-22, all the scheduled banks disbursed agricultural and rural credit of Tk 28,834.21 crore against the target of Tk 28,391 crore, which is approximately 101.56 percent of the affixed target.
The agricultural and rural credits were disbursed among 33, 04,811 persons in a total of which 17, 97,052 women borrowers have received Tk10,829.39 crore.
Besides, 24, 99,945 small and marginal farmers have received around Tk20,182.30 crore from different banks.
Moreover, Tk 19.59 crore was disbursed among 4,073 farmers of char, haor, and less developed areas of the country in the last fiscal year.
Floating vegetable farmers in Pirojpur devastated by low prices
Farmers engaged in vegetable farming — on floating beds made of hyacinth and bamboo — in Nazirpur and Nesarabad upazilas of Pirojpur district are devastated by low prices of their produce.
Though the farmers keep themselves engaged in cultivating vegetables, taking advantage of the availability of hyacinth in the region, anxiety over low prices has gripped them.
According to the district’s Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), farmers in the region have been farming vegetables, using the floating method, for over a century.
Some 3,200 farmers of the upazilas cultivate several varieties of vegetables including papaya, gourd, pumpkin, beans, okra, tomato, eggplant and cabbage.
Read More: Climate change: Shrimp farming endangered in Khulna
The vegetable seedlings produced on the beds are usually sold at upazilas of the district and other parts of the country but this year the sales are not seeing a momentum due to poor response from buyers.
Though it was targeted to produce 86,50,000 saplings on 175 hectares of land, it exceeded the target due to favourable weather.
Earlier, a bunch of 100 saplings was sold at Tk 250 to 300 but the price is now Tk 150 to 200. The sale of saplings goes on from June to November every year.
Some areas including Deulbari-Dobra, Kalardoyania and Malikhai under Nazirpur upazila and most parts of Baldiya union under Nesarabad upazila remain under 5 to 8 feet water round the year, causing no production of any crop.
Read more: Bumper T-Aman yield, good price delight Sirajganj farmers
The farmers said they usually take loans from local money lenders for usury and lands as sublease for cultivating vegetables and producing saplings.
The farmers are bound to take loans from the lenders with a high usury because of failure to manage loans from the banks during the Robi, Kharif-1 and 2 seasons.
They are deprived of bagging a good profit due to the high interest on the loans, they said.
Hoping assistance from the government, the farmers said they don’t get the desired prices by selling produce due to natural disasters, damages of crops, low price, disadvantages in marketing and lack of preservation.
Read More: Tulip farming opens new opportunity for farmers in Tetulia, Jashore
Local farmer Jamal Hossain said he is used to cultivating vegetables on the floating beds made of hyacinth and bamboo in the water bodies taken on sublease.
“I have 15 to 16 beds where I cultivate several types of vegetables including beans, papaya, tomato, chili and gourd,” he said.
“We have not been getting a reasonable price due to lack of dealers caused by the Covid-19 pandemic,” he claimed, adding that an amount of Tk 7,000 to 10,000 is needed to cultivate vegetables and produce saplings on a 60-hand long bed.
Dr Md Nazrul Islam Sikdar, deputy director of the district’s DAE, told UNB that some 60 to 70 percent farmers of Gaokhali, Monohorpur, Delbari and Malikhali areas under Nazipur upazila have been involved with vegetable farming on floating beds.
Read more: Vegetable farming on floating beds gets popular in Sylhet
“We inform the farmers on maintaining quality and visit their croplands to give training,” he said.
Urging high officials of the agricultural ministry to take measures to offer loans on easy conditions, the farmers said that it will be difficult to keep vegetable cultivation on floating beds going unless loans from banks are made easy.
Loan default case: 12 Pabna farmers get bail
A Pabna court on Sunday granted bail to 12 farmers who were arrested for defaulting loans taken from a government bank.
Pabna Senior Judicial Magistrate Court-2 Shamsuzzaman passed the order after hearing a bail petition, said Advocate Saidur Rahman Sumon who stood for the accused accompanied by two other lawyers.
Those who secured bail are: Nure Box, 45; Alam Promanik, 50; Mahatab Mandal, 45; Kitab Ali, 50; Hannan Miah, 30; Mohammad Majnu, 40; Mohammad Atiur Rahman, 50; Shamim Hossain, 45; Samad Promanik, 43; Mohammad Akram, 46; Abdul Goni Mondal, 50; and Rajob Ali, 40.
Read: Defaming PM: HC grants bail to Rajbari Mahila Dal leader
All the farmers are residents of Chhalimpur union under Ishwardi upazila of the district.
According to the case statement, a group of farmers – 37 in total – took loans ranging from Tk 25,000 to 40,000 from a branch of Bangladesh Samabaya Bank Ltd in the district in 2016.
Later, branch Manager Syed Moazammel Hoque Mahmud filed a case against the farmers for defaulting on loans in 2021.
On November 23 this year, a Pabna court issued arrest warrants against the defaulting farmers. Police arrested 12 out of the 37 farmers on Friday. The rest remained absconding since the arrest warrant was issued.
Read: HC grants conditional bail to 2 ex-NSU trustees
The court asked the absconding farmers to surrender before the court in this connection, the lawyers added.
The arrest warrants and the arrest of the farmers raised uproar on social media and surprised people in the country.
Bumper T-Aman yield, good price delight Sirajganj farmers
Harvesting of Transplanted Aman (T-Aman) paddy is going on in the full swing in Sirajganj and farmers are happy seeing a bumper yield and good prices this season.
According to Agriculture Department this year’s T-Aman paddy production in nine upazilas of Sirajganj will exceed the target as the farmers have brought more land under cultivation exceeding the target of 74,670 hectares.
Season’s highest amount of T-Aman saplings were planted at Tarash, Ullapara, Shahjadpur, Rayganj, Kamakhand and Sirajganj sadar upazilas.
Read more: 90% of haor paddy harvested: Deputy Minister
Hares Ali, a farmer from Tarash upazila said, they started planting seeds creating seedbeds immediately after flood water receded.
“After that in August we started planting the saplings in fields. Though the fertilizer and irrigation cost was high this year we are happy getting bumper production,” he said.
The purchase and sale of paddy has already started in various markets of the district.
Read more: 50pc of haor paddy already harvested: Minister
“Currently, per mound of paddy is being sold at Tk 1300 to 1400 in the market which is comparatively higher than the previous year,” said Abdul Baten, a farmer from Ullapara upazila.
Already the hay traders have started visiting villages and the markets to buy straw and farmers are expecting a good price from it too.
Babul Kumar Sutradhar, deputy director of the district Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) said that the farmers were given timely advice to cultivate T-Aman in the current season.
“Due to the favorable weather condition, there has been a bumper yield. Almost half of the cultivated land in the district has already been harvested and the harvesting will be completed in the next 2-1 weeks,” he said.
2 farmers killed in Pabna road crash; 5 hurt
Two farmers were killed and five others were injured as a truck hit a three-wheeler on Kashinathpur-Bogura highway in Santhia upazila of Pabna on Tuesday.
The deceased were identified as farmers Munnaf Ali, 50, also the driver of the three-wheeler, and Ziaur Rahman, 45.
The accident occurred this morning when the Bogura-bound truck hit the onion-laden three-wheeler on the highway in Patgari area, said Rafiqul Islam, officer-in-charge (OC) of Santhia police station.
Read more: 5 dead, 4 injured in Narayanganj road accident
Following the crash, the three-wheeler plunged into a roadside ditch, leaving seven of its occupants injured.
The duo died on the way to Bogura Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Medical College and Hospital, where the other injured were undergoing treatment, said the OC.
Read more: 7 killed in road accidents in 3 districts