Govt sets a target to produce 2.26 cr MT boro in 2024-25 fiscal

The government has undertaken a plan to produce 2.26 crore metric tons of boro rice from 50.70 lakh hectares of land during this fiscal year.

In view of this, the government has taken all-out preparations for the smooth cultivation of the single largest crop variety in the country.

The early boro cultivation has already begun in the haor area while plain land farmers started preparing seedlings.

The government has taken steps to ensure the supply of adequate fertilizer including urea and non-urea as the country’s two-thirds of rice is produced during boro season. 

Regarding the achievement of the boro production, M Saiful Alam, Director General (DG) of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) said that the country’s major demand for food supply is usually met by the boro production.

To fulfil the target, he said, hybrid, different high-yielding varieties (HYV) and local varieties will be cultivated during the season.

DAE is encouraging the farmers to cultivate high-yielding varieties like BRRI-29 to achieve the optimum production according to the target, said  Sarker Safi Uddin Ahmed, director (field service) of DAE.

“We are suggesting the farmers cultivate different mega varieties like BR-89, 92 and BR-102 as the farmers can get significant production”, he said.

According to DAE target hybrid rice will be cultivated on 14,94,920 hectares of land, high-yielding variety on 35,61012 hectares of land and local variety on 13,500 hectares of land.

In Dhaka region, 5,98,234 hectares of land will be brought under boro cultivation- where hybrid rice will be cultivated on 1,13,540 hectares of land, HYV will be cultivated on 4,82718 hectares of land and only 1976 hectares of land will be cultivated for local variety, according to DAE.

In the Mymensingh region, 6,70,497 hectares of land would be brought under boro cultivation. The hybrid will be cultivated on 2,58130 hectares, high-yielding variety (HYV) on 4,12001 hectares and local variety on 366 hectares of land.

In the Cumilla region, 3,37,467 hectares of land would come under boro cultivation where hybrid will be cultivated on 71,870 hectares, 2,65567 hectares of land will be brought under HYV cultivation and local variety will be cultivated on 30 hectares of land.

In the Sylhet region, boro rice will be cultivated on 4,96746 hectares of land. The hybrid will be cultivated on 1,43795 hectares of land, HYV will be cultivated on 3,49826 hectares of land and local variety will be cultivated on 3125 hectares of land.

In the Chattogram region, the boro rice will be cultivated on 2,93200 hectares of land where hybrid will be cultivated on 1,44530 hectares of land, HYV will be cultivated on 1,48,500 hectares and local variety will be cultivated on 170 hectares.

In the Rangamati region, boro rice will be cultivated on 27,827 hectares of land.

Boro cultivation has been targeted on 3,76110 hectares of land in the Rajshahi region. Out of that HYV will be cultivated on 3,39760 hectares of land, and hybrid will be cultivated on 36,350 hectares of land.

In the Bogura region, the boro rice will be cultivated on 4,55482 hectares of land, hybrid will be cultivated on 51,550 hectares of land and HYV will be cultivated on 4,01212 hectares of land.

In the Rangpur region, 5,08978 hectares would be brought under boro cultivation. Hybrid will be cultivated on 2,27856 hectares of land, HYV on 2,80015 hectares and local on 1,110 hectares.

Boro rice will be cultivated on 2,15245 hectares of land in the Barishal region where most of the land will be covered by high high-yielding variety of boro rice.

Talking about overall urea and non-urea fertilizer stock ahead of the boro season, Md Aminul Islam, deputy director (fertilizer management) of DAE said there is enough fertilizer stock in the country for the boro season.

For January to March, the government has a stock of urea of 11,04,908 metric tons, 2,35,765 MT Triple Super Phosphate (TSP), 4,80,459 MT Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) and 2,56,023 MT Muriate of Potash (MoP) at the field level for cultivating boro and other winter season crops.

Last year, the country’s boro production was 2.10 crore metric tons on 48 lakh hectares of land.