Boro cultivation has brought smiles to the farmers of Madaripur district with a bumper yield this season. During a recent visit to different parts of the district, this correspondent found that farmers are busy harvesting boro paddy. Siraj Chokdar, 45, a farmer in Lakshiganj village of Sadar upazila, said, “I have brought several bighas of land under boro cultivation. This year's yield is quite good due to the favorable weather. The current price is also good – Tk 1,100 per maund. But if the price of paddy goes down, the farmer will lose,” he said. Read more: Bumper yield of Boro paddy brings smiles to Chapainawabganj farmers Merzon Khalasi, 50, another farmer of the same area, said that due to the increase in the price of seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, irrigation and labour costs the production cost has shot up to Tk 800-900 to produce one maund paddy. Santosh Chandra, deputy director of District Agriculture Extension Department, said that 33,500 hectares of land have been cultivated in five upazilas of the district this year. Farmers have already harvested 80 percent of Boro paddy in the area and they are expected to benefit due to the bumper paddy yield and good market price of paddy, he added. Read more: 70% Boro paddy of haor areas harvested: Agriculture Ministry.

The Rajshahi district administration on Wednesday set May 4 (Thursday) to begin mango harvesting and marketing with the Guti variety this year. The date for harvesting Gopalbhog has been fixed from May 15, Ranipasand and Laxmanbhog or Lakhna from May 20; Khirsapati or Himsagar from May 25; Lengra from June 6; Amrapali from June 10, Fazli from June 15, Ashwina and Ashwina-4 varieties from July 10 and Ilamati from August 20. On the other hand, varieties of Katiman and Bari-11 can be harvested round the year. A meeting headed by Deputy Commissioner Shamim Ahmed was held in this regard at the DC office on Wednesday. The district administration released a brochure ‘Mango Calendar’ citing the harvesting time so that safe, chemical free and ripened mangos can be ensured in the markets.   DC Shamim Ahmed said they fix dates every year to ensure ripened and safe mangos in the market. “This year the date was also fixed on the basis of opinions from all the authorities concerned. Moreover, a certificate will have to be taken from Upazila Agricultural Officer to harvest and display mangos on the market once those are ripened earlier before the schedule,” he said. Red more: No fixed schedule for mango plucking this year in C’nawabganj Mojdar Hossain, deputy director of the district’s Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), urged the mango growers to harvest in line with the calendar. He also said that this year 1,050 more hectares of land were brought under the mango cultivation compared with last year’s 18, 528 hectares of land. The DAE officer hoped that 2, 58,450 tonnes of mango will be produced once the target is achieved. Additional DC (Development and Human Management) Anisul Islam and Additional Superintendent of Police Abu Saleh Md Ashraful Alam, among others, were present at the meeting.  

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.  

The Rajshahi district administration fixed May 15 to begin mango harvest this year with the Guti variety. The harvest date for harvesting Gopalbhog has been fixed from May 20; Ranipasand and Laxmanbhog from May 25; Khirsapat or Himsagar from May 28; Lengra from June 6; Amrapali, Fazli and Surma Fazli from June 15; and Ashwina and Ashwina-4 varieties from July 10. A meeting at the DC office decided on the dates on Thursday. Read Chapainawabganj mango growers pin hope on weather Strict action will be taken against harvesting unripe mangoes. The administration and police will monitor the harvesting procedures strictly. However, due to the change in weather, if mango ripens in any area before the stipulated time, farmers will be able to harvest them after informing the concerned upazila administration. Rajshahi Deputy Commissioner Md Abdul Jalil said that the harvesting of unripe mangoes was stopped in the last few years by fixing the date of harvest. Read Mango collection to start in Natore from May 20 "Besides, we’ve managed to convince our customers that no chemicals are used to ripen mangoes in Rajshahi," he said. On the other hand, unripe mangoes are falling down from the trees due to continuous heatwaves sweeping across the district. While talking to UNB, many farmers expressed concerns about not achieving the expected yield this year. Read Drought dashes dreams of litchi growers in Kushtia However, the agriculture department has assured that although surplus production might not be achievable this year, there is no doubt about reaching the target.

Although Boro paddy in haror areas of Sunamganj is almost ripe, farmers are worried about its harvesting due to the crisis of farm workers amid partial lockdown in different parts of the country and suspension of transport movement following coronavirus outbreak.   As coronavirus cases continue to rise claiming lives, many villages and areas in cities are gradually being brought under lockdown by the local administration concerned.   During a recent visit to the haro areas in the district, the UNB correspondent found the farmers of the haor areas preparing to harvest Boro crops and many have already started doing so.    Talking to UNB, some farmers said they are not getting workers for harvesting paddy this time despite offering advance payment.   Local people said once people from Narsingdi, Noakhali, Pabna, Bogura, Faridpur, Brahmanbaria and Mymensingh districts used to come to the district for paddy harvesting but for the last few years they are not coming due to damage of crops and losses.   The farmers are counting extra money due to the shortage of workers.   Another concern of the haor farmers is rainwater as it submerges the croplands.   Mubin Chowdhury, a farmer of Tangri Haor, said, “I’ve contacted many people but the number of workers is very few against the demand and those who want to do the job are demanding more money with food twice a day. As a result, I’ve to spend extra money.”   He urged the government to provide harvesting machines so that they could harvest their crops timely.   Selim Mia, a farmer in Chaptir Haor, said, “We get crops in our haor areas once a year and we all have to depend on it.”   “Our major concern is rain and the low-lying haro areas get inundated with the start of monsoon. If we fail to harvest our paddy in time then we’ll face huge losses,” he said adding that is why all the farmers are trying to harvest their crops in time.