Bumper maize output likely as harvest continues in Rangpur

Rangpur Correspondent: Officials of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) and farmers are expecting a bumper maize production as its harvest continues with excellent yield rate in Rangpur agriculture region this season.
Meanwhile, farmers are happy getting excellent prices between Tk 800 and Tk 850 of their newly harvested maize in local markets.
The DAE officials said a target of producing 10,51,747 tonnes of maize was fixed from 1,01,845 hectares of land for all five districts of Rangpur, Gaibandha, Kurigram, Nilphamari and Lalmonirhat in the region during the 2020-2021 Rabi season.
“Farmers had finally cultivated maize on 1,01,335 hectares of land, less by only 510 hectares against the fixed farming target,” said Deputy Director of the DAE at its regional office Agriculturist Bibhubhushan Roy.
During the previous 2019-2020 Rabi season, farmers produced 10,25,337 tonnes of maize by cultivating the crop on 1,01,345 hectares of land in the region.
Tender maize plants grew fabulously amid favourable climatic conditions predicting a super bumper production of the less irrigation water consuming cereal crop this time in the region.
Till Thursday, farmers have harvested maize on 84,193 hectares of land, 83.24 percent against the cultivated land area, and produced 9,08,958 tonnes of the cereal crop at an average yield rate of 10.80 tonnes per hectare of land in the region.
The government provided special incentives, high yielding varieties of maize seeds and fertilisers to landless, small, marginal and flood-hit farmers to further enhance maize cultivation this time.
“We are expecting to achieve the fixed production target of maize output this season as farmers have cultivated high yielding varieties of crop on more land using the latest technologies,” Roy said.
Senior Coordinator (Agriculture and Environment) of RDRS Bangladesh Agriculturist Mamunur Rashid said maize cultivation is expanding every year on both the mainland and char areas during the last 12 years across the region. Maize farming on mainland and char areas has already become more profitable than cultivation of many other crops helping small and marginal farmers, landless char and riverside people to cut poverty and improve their livelihoods and living standard.

Braving the coronavirus pandemic, tens of hundreds of char and riverside people have cultivated maize on vast tracts of char lands in the Brahmaputra, Teesta, Dharla, Jamuna, Kartoa, Ghaghot and other riverine areas in the region.

“After getting special incentives, assistance and latest technologies from the DAE and different NGOs, farmers have expanded maize cultivation using the latest agricultural technologies to get better output and lucrative market prices,” Rashid said.

Farmers Lokman Hossain, Arifur Rahman, Abdur Rahim and Borhan Uddin of different villages in Rangpur said they are expecting a bumper maize output as harvest of the crop is nearing completion with excellent yield rate.

They expressed happiness over the present market price of maize and hoped that the price of the crop might rise further after completion harvest of the crop that has huge demand in the animal husbandry, poultry and pisciculture and food industries sectors.