Farmers in Bhairab are spending busy days preparing land and transplanting seedlings of transplanted Aman paddy. With little rain, farmers in the upazila's seven unions are using other means to water their fields and make them ready for planting.

The Aman season has brought a festive mood to the fields. But although it is the peak planting season, intense heat and a shortage of rain had put farmers in difficulty.

On a visit to Sadekpur, Rasulpur, Mendipur, Gazaria, Manikdi, Teyarichar, Bhabanipur, Srinagar and Kalikaprasad, farmers were seen busy from morning to evening. Some were cutting field ridges with spades. In places power tillers run by shallow engines were levelling the land, while elsewhere farmers were dragging the ladder harrow themselves. Some were pulling seedlings from seedbeds for transplanting, and others were applying organic fertiliser.

Anwar Hossain, a farmer from Rasulpur village, said: "Every year at this time we grow transplanted Aman as an extra crop. This year too I have planted it on 8 bighas. Because there was little rain, I had to irrigate the land to make it fit for transplanting."

Rahim Bhuiyan of Sadekpur village said he had grown transplanted Aman on five bighas this year. "The land in our area produces two kinds of crops a year. We grow transplanted Aman after the monsoon water recedes, and later Boro is grown on the same land. Boro is our main rice crop. If the weather favours Aman and the paddy is not submerged by monsoon water, the yield will be good."

Rahmatullah Mia, a farmer of Bhabanipur village, said Boro was generally grown more in the area. "But if the monsoon water drains quickly towards the end of the season, we grow transplanted Aman on the land that had been under water. Really, this crop is an extra one for us."

Bhairab Upazila Agriculture Officer Aklima Begum said 550 farmers had been given incentives to grow transplanted Aman. This year's target for the crop in Bhairab is 2,285 hectares, and 2,370 hectares have been planted so far.

She added: "We are giving farmers all kinds of advice on growing transplanted Aman. Our field-level agriculture staff are constantly keeping track of farmers and advising them."

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.