Transplanted aman rice is being grown by the samalay (synchronised) method in Bhola for the first time. Because the new method costs very little from seedbed to transplanting, Bhola's farmers are dreaming of big profits. They say that if the new method brings the hoped-for crop and higher profits this year, it will spark a revolution in aman farming in the district, though they are hoping for support from the agriculture department.

A visit found that samalay cultivation of transplanted aman has begun in Kalakopa village of Char Khalifa union in Daulatkhan upazila of Bhola. It is the first time the new method has been used in the upazila. Aman seed is sown in plastic trays filled with soil mixed with organic fertiliser. The seedlings are ready for transplanting within just 15 to 17 days. The seedlings are then loaded, trays and all, into a rice transplanter, which plants them in the field quickly and without labourers.

Md Shajahan and Md Alauddin, farmers of Kalakopa village, said they used to grow transplanted aman the traditional way and have started using the samalay method for the first time this year. With the traditional method, it cost about Tk 45,000 to Tk 50,000 an acre from seedbed to harvest. With the new method it will cost only Tk 20,000 to Tk 25,000, they said.

Farmers Md Delowar Hossain and Abu Taher Kutti said: "Before, with a traditional seedbed, it took 25 to 30 days for the seedlings to be ready for transplanting. Now with the samalay method it takes 15 to 17 days. Under the old method we had to use labourers, and there was a severe shortage of them. Because we could not get labourers on time, we could not transplant on time either. Now, with this method, the seedlings are planted very quickly by the rice transplanter without labourers."

Farmers Md Nurul Islam, Md Sirajul Islam and Md Jewel Rana said: "Growing aman used to cost a great deal. If paddy prices were high we made a modest profit. This time, because we are farming by machine, costs are lower too, so we will make a good profit even if paddy prices are low. This time we have grown aman by the samalay method on two to three acres. If the yield and profit are good, next year we will farm five to ten acres."

Humayra Siddika, an officer of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in Daulatkhan upazila, said transplanted aman has been grown by the samalay method on 50 acres in Daulatkhan this year for the first time, all of it by 73 farmers in Kalakopa village. If the new method can be made popular among farmers, it will be a landmark step for the farm sector, she said, and samalay will be one of the means of building a Smart Bangladesh.

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