Thanks to a bumper production of Aman paddy this year farmers are happy. There was, however, A fear that a cyclone could cause havoc , which did not happen.
Officials of the Agriculture Extension Department and the Agriculture Ministry have said that this year, Aman has been grown on 5.89 million hectares of land. The aim was to produce on 5.87 million acres. The target of production was 14 million tonne.
Apparently the production will exceed the target, making government policy makers happy. They also hope for a better Boro production next year. Till Dec 14, Aman on 73 percent land was cut and the production this year per hectare is 2.89 tonne. Aman on 46 hectares of land have been cut already.
As per the decision of the food planning committee, the government has decided to buy 600,000 tonne from farmers at Tk 26 per kg. From Dec 1, 350,000 tonne of boiled Aman rice will bought at Tk 35 per kg and 50,000 tonne of Atap rice for Tk 36 per kg.
Last year, the production of Aman was 15.3 million tonne.
Food minister Shadhan Chandra Das Mazumder said: “We have had A bumper production this year and hopefully, the production target will be crossed. To ensure that farmers make a profit we have decided to buy rice directly from them, avoiding middlemen.”
Agriculture Minister Dr Abdur Razzak said: “We kept the dismal experience of 2017 in mind and gave all out facilities to the farmers.”
Each mound of Aman is selling for Tk 650 to Tk 700. This year, one bigha of land yielded 12 to 13 mounds of rice.