As far as the eye can see, Jhalakathi's wide fields are golden with paddy, and the air is filled with the scent of the new crop. Birds of many colours flit over the ripe aman fields. In the thin Poush sunshine breaking through the cold and fog, farmers are happily cutting paddy, while threshing, drying and husking go on at the same time. Family members are busy alongside the farmers.

Farmers say they have not seen such a good yield in the past 10 years, and satisfying market prices have put a golden smile on their faces. The harvest is nearly over, and households are preparing festivities with rice from the new crop.

Abdus Sobhan, a farmer of Mirzapur village in Sadar upazila, said: "This time I grew aman on 52 kata of land. The yield has been good and harvesting is nearly over. I have already sold some paddy at Tk 1,300 a maund. On the first of Magh we will celebrate by making payesh with date palm juice on a winter morning."

The report adds that thanks to favourable weather, the aman yield has also been good in Kishoreganj this year, where farmers are cutting paddy in a festive mood. Threshing, winnowing and drying are under way, and farming men and women are busy parboiling paddy beside the fields and drying it in the sun before taking it home. Every farmer is pleased, not only with the bumper yield but with good paddy prices.

Farmers said the harvest had exceeded their hopes and prices were higher too, so their hard work felt worthwhile. At the start of the season there had been worries about meeting production targets because of heavy rain and bad weather, but those fears were overcome. They said they were making Tk 200 a maund more profit than last year and expected better prices towards the end.

Md Monirul Islam, deputy director of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in Jhalakathi, said paddy had been grown on 47,705 hectares in the district this year, which should give 94,000 tonnes of rice. The average yield was 2.9 tonnes last year and 3.2 tonnes this year. Farmers received government incentive fertiliser and seed and regular advice from the agriculture department, and their hard work also contributed to the good yield.

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