Boro farming begins in Gaibandha

DOT Desk: Farming of Boro paddy, one of the high value crops, had begun in all seven upazilas of Gaibandha during the current season amid much enthusiasm among the farmers, reports The New Age.
Office sources said that the Department of Agriculture Extension had set a target to bring a total of 1, 27,740 hectares of land under Boro cultivation this year with a production target of 5,31,000 tonnes of clean rice.
To bring the land under the cultivation programme, the farmers had prepared seed beds on 7,500 hectares of low land where the seedlings had grown well.
Though the green seedlings were being affected due to the cold wave sweeping across the northern region, including Gaibandha, the department took precautionary measures to protect the seedlings from cold injuries through motivating the farmers.
To help cultivate the Boro paddy without financial constraints, different schedule banks, including the Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank, had taken up plans to disburse agriculture loans to growers on easy term during the season, said an official of a bank.
To make the cultivation programme a grand success, necessary measures had been taken to supply fertilisers, insecticides and other agricultural inputs to farmers at fair prices alongside, said an official of the department.
The Power Development Board and Rural Electrification Board were charged with ensuring power supply facilities for the farmers, he said.
Acting deputy director of the department Showkat Osman said that the farmers were advised to transplant the seedlings of the Boro paddy on their respective land as per the suggestion of field level sub-assistant agriculture officers.
He said that the transplantation of seedlings of Boro paddy would continue till March 15.