Govt may miss Aman acreage target

Bangladesh may miss its target for cultivation of the Aman rice, the second biggest rice crop, this year as farmers in the eastern districts are unlikely to transplant the seedlings again in fields that were washed away by last month’s devastating flood.
Until September 11, farmers across the country transplanted the seedlings of rain-fed Aman rice varieties on 52.10 lakh hectares, which was 91 percent of the target set by the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE).
Agronomists said the optimum time to cultivate Aman rice for the season is over. Yet farmers in the southern belt transplant different rice varieties until the third week of September.
However, achieving the national goal still might be tough.
Floodwater has not receded from the croplands in the affected eastern districts Feni, Noakhali and Cumilla, and it may take more than a week for the water to ebb. Even after the decline in the water flow, not all farmers have rice saplings suitable to grow and ensure good yields, according to them.
“The flood was unexpected and unusual. Farmers in these regions were not prepared,” said Md Shahidul Islam, chief scientific officer and head of the agronomy division at the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI).
He said before the flood came, farmers already transplanted the seedlings. “It was also beyond our calculation that there might be a high demand for late variety seeds.”
In late August, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) forecasted that rice acreage and production in Bangladesh may decline because of recent floods.
It said the floods that submerged a vast part of the eastern part of the country in August may cause a reduction in Aman cultivation area.
The agency, citing its rapid assessment, said the flood had damaged 2 lakh hectares of land containing Aman season saplings.
The USDA said Aman season rice can usually be transplanted until September 15 and added if the floodwaters receded and farmers received enough seeds to prepare the seedbeds by August 31, some 10-15 percent of the Aman area could be replanted by September 15.
Md Tajul Islam Patwary, director general of the DAE, said growers transplant Aman rice saplings in some parts of the country until September 20.
“So, given the current pace of transplantation, we expect to achieve the target,” he said, adding that the crop extension agency provided seeds to 80,000 farmers in the flood-affected areas to cultivate on 80,000 bighas of area.
The DAE has also provided seedlings to growers to grow rice on another 4,500 bigha area. The BRRI and other rice research agencies also provided saplings to farmers, he added.
Patwary said the government has taken a Tk 194 crore scheme to support farmers who incurred losses due to the flood.
Dr Iftekhar, chief scientific officer and head of the plant breeding division at the BRRI, said farmers do not keep land unused. There are some photo-sensitive rice varieties.
“If farmers have prepared seedbeds of these varieties, the land will not remain fallow. But of course, yields will be low,” he said.
Aman rice production grew 8 percent year-on-year to 1.66 crore tonnes in the fiscal year 2023-24.
The production was roughly over 40 percent of the total estimated rice production of more than 4 crore tonnes.