The process of sowing wheat will get momentum with further progress in harvesting Aman rice crop

The Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) has fixed a target of producing 63,661 tons of wheat from 18,800 hectares of land in all five districts of the Rangpur agriculture region during this Rabi season.

DAE officials said local farmers produced 66,283 tons of wheat from 21,160 hectares of land against the fixed production target of 69,630 tons from 19,550 hectares of land in the last Rabi season.

“Farmers have already started preparing their croplands for sowing wheat seeds after harvesting Aman rice,” said Agriculturist Md Tauhidul Iqbal, additional director of the DAE for the Rangpur region.

To make the wheat farming program a success, the government through the DAE is distributing wheat seeds, Di-ammonium Phosphate and Muriate of Potash fertilizers as special agriculture incentives among small and marginal farmers.

“The process of sowing wheat seeds will get momentum with further progress in harvesting Aman rice crop in the region from next month,” he said.

The DAE, Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation (BADC), Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute (BARI) and other agriculture-related organizations have taken ample steps to make the intensive of wheat farming program a success this season.

“The authorities concerned have taken measures to ensure supply of high-quality wheat seeds, latest technologies, fertilizers and other inputs to farmers to promote the cultivation of the cereal crop,” Agriculturist Iqbal added.

Farmers are mostly cultivating high yielding wheat varieties like Bijoy, Pradip, Sotabdi, BARI Gom25, BARI Gom26, BARI Gom27, BARI Gom28 and BARI Gom29 using conservation agriculture (CA)-based technologies to enhance production.

Talking to BSS, Senior Coordinator (Agriculture and Environment) of RDRS Bangladesh Agriculturist Mamunur Rashid said farmers are mostly farming wheat adopting the latest technologies being provided by the government in recent years.

Adoption of the CA-based strip tillage and bed planting methods in sowing wheat using seeder machines largely increases the wheat yield, reducing the need for irrigation compared to the full tillage methods largely saving labour costs.

Earlier, wheat production was being affected due to adverse impacts of high temperature on its farming from flowering to ripening stages and late sowing of seeds after harvesting late varieties of Aman rice and use of low-quality local seeds.

“However, farmers are sowing high quality, disease-resistant and stress-tolerant varieties of wheat seeds timely using the lowest cost CA-based technologies after harvesting short duration Aman rice to get excellent production in recent years,” Rashid added.