The agriculture department has set a target of cultivating aman paddy on 17,345 hectares of land in Jashore’s Chougacha this aman season. Land preparation and planting are already under way in full swing in various parts of the upazila. But with production costs rising because of higher prices for fertiliser, pesticide, labour wages and other agricultural inputs, paddy growers are anxious about their profits.
According to the upazila agriculture office, aman paddy of various varieties — including BR-51, BR-87, BR-75, Protik, Lal Swarna, Kashmiri Swarna and Indian Miniket — will be grown this time across 11 unions and the municipal area.
Several farmers — including Ashadul Islam of Andarkota village, Saiful Islam and Saber Ali Sardar of Singhajhuli village, and Jahangir Alam, Sagar Khan, Shamsul Huda Dafadar, Ishaq Ali Dafadar and Mizanur Rahman Katu Biswas of Swarupdah village — said this is the busy season for planting aman paddy in the fields. With favourable weather, they are hoping for a good yield. But there is concern over profits because production costs have risen abnormally.
A farmer of Chandpara village, Maulana Sulaiman Hossain, said land preparation is finished and they are now busy planting seedlings. But the prices of almost all agricultural inputs, including fertiliser, pesticide and labour wages, have risen. As a result, farmers are unable to profit financially even after growing paddy. With continuous losses, many are reducing their cultivation.
A farmer of Ramkrishnapur village, Ashadul Islam, said: “I used to grow paddy on all my land; but because of losses I have grown aman on only one bigha this time.” A farmer of Garibpur village, Mozammel Hossain Mujam, said he grows aman on about 20 bighas every season. He will grow aman again this time in the hope of a good yield, but production costs are expected to be higher this time than at any time before.
The upazila agriculture officer, Mosabbir Hossain, said officers of the agriculture department are keeping in touch at field level and giving farmers advice and technical support, with the aim of bringing every cultivable plot in the upazila under cultivation. If favourable weather holds, there will be a good aman yield this season, he said.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report