Thirty-three per cent of boro paddy has been harvested across the country and 90 per cent in the haor areas, Agriculture Minister Md Abdur Razzaque has said.

The minister gave the information at a press briefing on boro paddy at the Secretariat on Sunday (30 April).

"Boro is our main paddy season. Every year we grow boro on 48–49 lakh hectares. This year our target was 49.76 lakh hectares and we achieved 50 lakh hectares. More boro was planted this year than we had targeted," he said.

The agriculture minister said the haor contains both risky and higher ground. In total, boro has been grown on 9.5 lakh hectares in the haor, with a production target of 38 lakh tonnes.

"Harvesting paddy in the haor is extremely risky. In the past, every year we saw some part of the haor go under water, the paddy was ruined and farmers couldn't bring their crop home," he said.

"As of now this year, 90 per cent of the paddy in the risky haor areas has been cut. This was possible because we encouraged farmers to harvest early. In Sunamganj, one thousand combine harvesters and 668 reapers cut paddy. There has not been much flooding this time either. This is a big achievement for us," the minister added.

Abdur Razzaque also said scientists were working on varieties that can be harvested in the haor before the floods arrive.

Giving the boro rice production target as 2.15 crore tonnes, the agriculture minister said: "We hope to achieve 2.20 to 2.25 crore tonnes. Already 33 per cent of the paddy across the country has been cut. There has been good progress. We can hope there will be no more problems with food. So far the weather has been favourable."

Asked whether paddy had been damaged by nor'westers (kalbaishakhi) and hailstorms in various places recently, Dr Razzaque said: "Hailstorms cause some local damage, perhaps in one or two villages. There has not been widespread damage from hail. We have assumed that the losses that happen every year will happen this year too. Given Bangladesh's nature, this can happen. Paddy prices are also fairly good this time. Farmers are selling paddy at fair prices and have no complaints about the price."

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