Seventy percent of the Boro paddy in haor areas have been harvested, the Ministry of Agriculture (Bangladesh) has said. In Sylhet, 55 percent paddy was harvested, in Moulvibazar 70 percent was harvested, in Habiganj 67 percent, in Sunamganj 73 percent, in Kishoreganj 58 percent, in Netrokona 77 percent, and in Brahmanbaria 67 percent of Boro paddy was harvested, according to a press release of the ministry today. Boro paddies were sown on 452,000 hectare of land in haor areas of seven districts this year.And a total of 953,000 hectares of Boro paddy has been cultivated in the highland outside of the haors. The production target is 40 lakh tonnes of rice, said the release. Read More: Record Boro production to be achieved this year: Agriculture Minister Recently, Bangladesh's Agriculture Minster Abdur Razzaque launched the Boro paddy harvest in haor areas of Sunamganj ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr. At the time, he said if there was no natural disaster and rice can be brought home on time, there will be record production in Boro this year. He said only in Sunamganj, around 1,000 combined paddy harvesters are working, adding that there will be no problem in harvesting paddy this time. According to the Department of Agricultural Extension, Boro has been sown on 50 lakh hectares of land across the country this year, while the production target is 21.5 million metric tonnes of rice. Read More: Govt to procure 16.50 lakh tonnes Boro paddy, rice In the last fiscal year 2021-22, Boro rice was sown on 48,14,000 hectares of land, and about 20.2 million tonnes of rice were produced in Bangladesh, the release said.

The government of Bangladesh has raised the prices of Urea, TSP, DAP and MOP fertilisers by Tk 5 per kg at both farmer and dealership levels. The new rates came into effect on Monday. The agriculture ministry issued an order in this regard on Monday following a letter sent by the finance department of the finance ministry. The prices have been refixed aiming to keep the fertilizer import at a rational level amid the hike in its prices at the international level and ensure optimum utilization of fertilizers, said the order. Read More: Cabinet body approves proposals for import of LNG, fertiliser and lentil At the farmers’ level, the price of per kg Urea has been raised to Tk 27 from Tk 22, DAP to Tk 21 from Tk 16, TSP to Tk 27 from Tk 22 and MOP to Tk 20 from Tk 15. Similarly, at the dealers’ level, the Urea price has been re-fixed at Tk 25 instead of Tk 20, DAP at Tk 19 instead of Tk 14, TSP at Tk 25 instead of Tk 20 and MOP at Tk 18 instead of Tk 13. The current price of Urea, DAP, TSP and MOP fertilisers in the international market is Tk 48, Tk 70, Tk 50 and Tk 60 per kg respectively. As a result, the government is still giving a subsidy of Tk 21 in Urea, Tk 49 in DAP, Tk 23 in TSP and Tk 40 in MOP per kg even after the latest price hike, said a media release of the agriculture ministry. Read More: Production at Shahjalal Fertiliser Company suspended for 2 months, causing Tk 50 lakh in losses daily Fertilizer prices were raised by 3-4 times in the global market in the last three years, resulting in hike in government subsidy in the country four times, it said. In the fiscal year 2020-21, the amount of subsidy was Tk 7,420 crore while it increased to TK 28 crore in 21-22 FY and in the running 2022-23 fiscal year, about Tk 46,000 crore will be required for subsidy. From 2008-09 to 2022-23 fiscal years, Tk 1,19,837 crore was spent as fertiliser subsidy.

The government has opened a control room to monitor the fertilizer situation of the country, according to the Agriculture Ministry. The control room will be kept open from 8am to 11 pm with the coordination of the officials of Agriculture Ministry and the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), said a handout of the ministry. People have been asked to contact the control room in need which comes into effect from today. The ministry also disclosed the cell phone numbers of Deputy Chief of the Ministry Badiul Alam—01713593487, Research official M Nurunnabi—01716462277, deputy director of DAE (fertilizer) Aminul Islam-01724245354 and additional deputy director Khandaker Rashed Iftekhar-01814947054. According to the ministry, plenty of fertilizer was stock at the silos against the country’s demand. Also read: Any role in artificial fertilizer crisis There are 6.56lakh mts of urea fertilizer, 3.94 lakh tonnes of TSP fertilizer, 8.23 lakh tonnes of DAP fertilizer in stock, it said. Besides, there is a demand of 6.19 lakh of urea, 1.19 lakh tonnes of TSP, 2.25 lakh tonnes of DAP and 1.37 lakh tonnes of MoP fertilizer during the Aman season.

Farmers are to pay Tk. 6 more for a kilogram of urea fertilizer effective  Monday, the Agriculture Ministry announced citing price hike in the global markets. In a handout the ministry said that urea fertilizer will now be sold at Tk. 22 per kg, up from Tk. 16 per kg at the farmers’ level. At the dealers’ level the price has been re-fixed at Tk. 20 per kg, up from Tk. 14 per kg. According to the handout, the price of per kilogram of urea fertilizer in the international market is currently Tk 81. Despite the raise in the local market by Tk 6 per kg, the government will have to provide Tk 59 in subsidy per kg. Also read: Govt looks for alternative sources of urea fertilizer: Agri Minister In 2005-2006 fiscal year, the government provided Tk 15 a kg as urea fertilizer subsidy, it said. The price of fertilizer has shot up 3-4 times in the international market and as a result the government’s subsidies on the essential agro inputs rose by four times. In FY2020-21, the government provided Tk 7,717 crore as subsidy in fertilizer while Tk 28,000 in FY2021-22. . Also read: Incessant rains in Kurigram force Boro farmers to go for early harvesting

Forty-one per cent paddy have been harvested until Wednesday in seven haor districts of the country, said the Ministry of Agriculture on Thursday. According to the ministry, 38 per cent paddy harvested in Kishorganj,73 per cent in Netrakona, 29 per cent in Brahmanbnaria, 37 per cent in Sylhet, 36% in Moulvibazar, 25 per cent in Habiganj and 42 per cent in Sunamganj. So far, crops on 9,700 hectares of land have been affected by recent flashfloods and heavy rains which is 1 per cent of the total cultivation (9, 50, 318 hectares of land), according to the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE). Also read: Flash floods damage crops worth Tk 100 crore in Sunamganj haors Boro paddy was cultivated on 4,52,138 hectares of land in seven haor districts and 4,98,180 hectares of land in non-haor districts, said the DAE. The government had directed the farmers to harvest 80% ripe crops considering the unvavourable weather in the region. The farmers were allocated sufficient numbers of combined harvester and reaper machines in these districts to assist them in cutting the crops in time, according to the Ministry. Also read: Second phase of flash floods hits Sunamganj haor region A total of 1,700 combined harvesters and reaper machines are currently being used to harvest paddy in haor region and of them 1100 are local while 350 were brought from other districts, added the ministry.

Seventy-three varieties of rice were developed in the country in the last 13 years, according to the information placed at the meeting of a parliamentary committee on Tuesday. The 21st meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture Ministry held with its chairman Matia Chowdhury in the chair at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban, said a press release. Read:Commerce ministry seeks BTTC report before raising edible oil price Out of the newly developed varieties, the parliamentary body recommended the government to motivate the production of ‘BRRI Dhan 96,’ ‘Bangabandhu Dhan 100,’ ‘BRRI Dhan 101’ and ‘BRRI Dhan 102’ variant rice across the country. The committee suggested reaching paddy seeds to farmers and spread the concept of higher production at lower cost among the peasants. Read:Veggies’ price soars due to untimely rains & intermediaries: Agriculture secy The parliamentary watchdog recommended putting importance on motivating farmers to boost production using quality seeds of crops to meet the food demand. Committee members Agriculture Minister Dr Muhammad Abdur Razzaque, Md. Emad Uddin Pk, Md. Mamunur Rashid Kiron, Anwarul Abedin Khan, Umme Kulsum Smriti and Hosne Ara attended the meeting.

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has said that he is not aware of any proposal placed by the Agriculture Ministry to raise the fertilizer price. “I am not aware of any such proposal of the agriculture ministry on fertiliser price hike proposal”, he told reporters responding to a question of a reporter during the briefing on the outcomes of two consecutive meetings of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs and the Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase held virtually on Wednesday. Read: Govt in a fix over subsidy on fertilizer amid price spiral in internal market The finance minister was asked by a reporter about his response to an indication from the agriculture minister that this year the ministry needs Tk 28,000 crore as subsidy for fertilizer against an allocation of Tk 9,000 crore. But the additional fund is not available with the agriculture ministry and it is now under pressure from the finance ministry to raise the fertilizer rice.

  The government is distributing 5,776 farming machines among farmers across the country in the current fiscal year under the Agricultural Mechanisation Project of the Agriculture Ministry. The machines include 1,617 combined harvesters, 701 reapers and 184 rice transplanters, according to a handout of the Agriculture Ministry issued on Tuesday. Of the machines, 510 combined harvesters and 701 reapers are being distributed in the Haor area. Under the project, more than 51,000 machines of different technology, including combined harvesters, reapers, rice transplanters, power thresher dryers, power weeders, power sprayers, potato diggers and maize sheller will be distributed among the farmers throughout the country by 2025. Also read: Dhaka for greater intra-OIC trade, contract farming Agriculture Minister Dr Muhammad Abdur Razzaque on Tuesday virtually inaugurated the distribution. He said the government is providing the farming machines among the farmers at 70 percent subsidised rate in Haor and coastal areas, while 50 percent subsidised prices in other areas of the country under the Agricultural Mechanisation Project involving Tk 3,020 crore. Noting that the incumbent government has been working for agricultural mechanisation for the last 12 years, he said the agriculture sector of Bangladesh would be as advanced and modern as that of the industrialised countries. “With this project, a new chapter started in the country’s agriculture. There’ll be a revolution in agricultural mechanisation. The agriculture of Bangladesh will be as advanced and modern as that of the industrialised countries,” said Dr Razzaque. Also read: Bangladesh eyes big opportunities abroad through contract farming He said the present government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, is giving utmost importance to agriculture. “At present, the main goal of the government is to modernise and make agriculture profitable,” he said adding that the government has taken and implemented various initiatives to modernise and make agriculture profitable through mechanisation. The Minister expressed hope that this project will make agriculture profitable and accelerate the improvement of the living standards of the rural people. State Minister for Social Welfare Md Ashraf Ali Khan Khasru also spoke on the occasion, joining the virtual function from Netrakona. Also read: Alt. Farming: How women in Kurigram augment their households' incomes Senior Secretary of Agriculture Ministry Md Mesbahul Islam and other high officials from the ministry and the Department of Agricultural Extension joined the event.   DAE Director General Md Ashadullah said some Tk 5,271 crore will be saved, if the boro paddy of 48 lakh hectares of land can be harvested using machines.  

Agriculture Minister Dr Abdur Razzaque on Sunday said that aiming to eliminate the shortage and control prices in the rice markets, the government is going to purchase 5-6 lakh metric tonnes of rice.

The government on Tuesday fixed the price of potato at Tk 35 per kg in the retail market and Tk 30 per kg at the wholesale level.