Farmers in Khulna are spending busy days in their fields to cultivate Boro, the largest crop in the country. However, they are worried since the season would be pretty costlier for them because of the spike in the cost of farm inputs, including irrigation, diesel, fertiliser, pesticides and labour.

Local sources said some farmers are currently preparing seed beds for the paddy cultivation while others have completed transplantation. They are struggling to manage the production cost in the inflated economy.

In Koyra upazila’s Sadar union, some four-five farmers are currently busy preparing their lands for Boro paddy cultivation for this season. They prepare the seedbeds about two weeks before transplanting the seedlings.

Farmer Ismail Hossain is cultivating Boro paddy on 16 bighas of land this season. “The yield was good last year, I got about 10-12 maunds of paddy per bigha. This season I spent Tk three lakh to install a boring machine for irrigation purposes,” he said.

According to Ismail, a boring machine can help irrigate about 100 bighas of land. He has an agreement with neighbouring farmers to irrigate their lands in exchange for a quarter of their harvest.

Rabiul Islam of Jaipur village in the upazila said due to excessive water salinity levels paddy cannot be cultivated in his area. “I leased about 5 bighas of land in Hetelkhali beel area to cultivate Boro paddy. I had to work very hard to put together enough money for this.”

In response to a question, he said, the costs and risks are higher in cultivating hybrid varieties. He planted a hybrid rice variety on one bigha of land and the Ufshi variety on the rest.

Noor Islam, a farmer from the West Maharajpur beel area of the same upazila, said fertiliser prices have gone up from Tk 16 to Tk 25. “It costs Tk 4,000 to irrigate one bigha of land. Per bigha production costs come up to over Tk 14,000 post-harvest.”

Yakub Ali of Maharajpur union’s Graduate village said he received four kg of seeds and fertiliser as Boro paddy cultivation incentives this session. He has completed transplanting the seedlings on one bigha of land.

According to the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) Khulna office, 2,79,382 tonnes of Boro rice was harvested from 62,730 hectares of land in FY 2021-22. Among them, the hybrid variety was cultivated on 39,055 hectares of land and the Ufshi variety on 23,675 hectares. The average production of hybrid rice per hectare is 4.85 tonnes and the Ufshi variety is 3.80 tonnes.

In FY 2020-21, 2,70,708 tonnes of Boro rice was harvested from 60,150 hectares of land in the district.

This year, 62,800 hectares of land have been targeted for Boro paddy cultivation. Among them, 39,000 hectares of hybrid and 23,800 hectares of Ufshi varieties cultivation have been targeted.

Among the nine upazilas of Khulna, the maximum cultivation target of 22,015 hectares has been set in Dumuria. And the least is 215 hectares in Dakop upazila.

Hybrid seeds have been distributed among 22,000 farmers and Ufshi seeds and fertilisers to 15,000 farmers in the district.

Koyra upazila Asim Additional Agriculture Officer Kumar Das said after receiving incentives farmers’ interest has increased. So far transplantation has been completed on 35 hectares of land in the upazila.

Md Fariduzzaman, Rupsa Upazila Agriculture Officer, said Boro paddy seedlings have been transplanted on some 340 hectares of land in the upazila. “About 10-12 per cent of the plantation target has been achieved so far. We expect to exceed the plantation target.”

Dumuria Upazila Agriculture Officer Md Insad Ibne Amin said, seed beds have been prepared on 1,310 hectares of land so far, and seedlings have been transplanted on 300 hectares of land.

“Some 11,500 farmers have received paddy cultivation incentives this season in the upazila. More land will be brought under Boro paddy cultivation.”

Khulna DAE Additional Deputy Director (Crops) Mosaddek Hossain said, “Boro paddy has been cultivated on two per cent of the district’s targeted land. Farmers have prepared the seed beds exceeding the target cultivation in the district.”

Md Hafizul Islam, Deputy Director of Khulna DAE said, as the cost of production has increased, the price of rice has also increased. Seeds and fertilisers have been disbursed among the farmers as incentives. Field-level workers are always available if the farmers are in need of advice. We expect Boro paddy cultivation to exceed the target. [TBP]