Harvesting of Aman paddy begins in Habiganj haor areas

The harvesting of early Aman paddy varieties has begun in Habiganj, a north-eastern district of Bangladesh, instilling a hope among the people that prices of rice will not go up further, even if it does not decline.

The harvest could aggregate Tk 764 crore from across some nine Upazilas in the district, a correspondent reported quoting Ashek Parvez, a training officer of the District Agriculture Extension Directorate.

This season, the local agriculture department had set a target of planting Aman on some 80,200 hectares of land in the haor areas. However, the local farmers finally grew Aman on some 88,258 hectares of land, Parvez said.

He said the harvesting of the early Aman paddy has already begun in Madhabpur, Chunarughat, Nabiganj and Lakhai Upazilas and harvesting of the paddy in the other five Upazilas will begin from November 15.

The early BRRI Dhan-90, BRRI Dhan-75 and BINA Bina-7 are being harvested at present, he pointed out.

The total harvest could be around 2,40,000 tonnes, estimating three tonnes of paddy per hectare, the DAE official said.

“Last year, the government procured per maund of rice at Tk 1, 080 and this season we recommended the government to buy the rice at Tk 1, 100,” said the government official.