Wheat has been grown on a record area in Nilphamari this rabi season. With the weather favourable, farmers are expecting a bumper harvest, and they hope that good yields and prices will help them recover the losses they have suffered on paddy.

According to the district office of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), the target for wheat this season is 5,800 hectares: 2,270 hectares in Sadar, 250 in Saidpur, 1,150 in Domar, 880 in Dimla, 850 in Jaldhaka and 400 in Kishoreganj. The average production target has been set at 19,836 tonnes.

Fields sown with the BARI-26, 28, 30 and 33 wheat varieties have done well this year, and the likely average yield has been put at 17,801.1 tonnes. Agriculturists say the expected yield will be achieved if the weather stays favourable to the end.

Sadar upazila agriculture officer Md Kamrul Hasan said that, hoping for more profit at lower cost, farmers had sown early and high-yielding, nutrient-rich wheat varieties on boro paddy land this year. He expects a bumper wheat crop if the weather holds.

Md Abul Kalam Azad, 48, of Chengmari Dighaltari village in Panchapukur union of Nilphamari Sadar, said he had grown an early wheat variety this year to make up for the damage caused by several rounds of flooding and natural disasters.

"Because there is no proper market price for paddy, we lose money every year," he said. "So this year I grew wheat on one and a half bighas. The yield is good, and I will be able to bring it home in a few days."

Taslim Uddin, 45, from the same village, said he had grown wheat on two bighas this season. "The BARI-26 variety yields well, up to 15-16 maunds a bigha. The price is good too: a maund of wheat is now selling for Tk 1,200 to Tk 1,300. It costs Tk 1,800 to grow wheat on a bigha, and the profit is nearly Tk 19,000 a bigha."

Dipak Das, a wheat trader and wholesaler in the district town and its large markets, said (old) wheat was currently changing hands at Tk 1,200 to Tk 1,300, depending on the variety. "Farmers are getting a fairly good price," he said.

Shah Alam of Pangamotukpur village in Motukpur union of Domar upazila said wheat needs less fertiliser and pesticide, and a little irrigation gives a good yield. The crop can be harvested at low cost and in a short time.

Md Sirajul Islam, deputy director (crops) of the district DAE, said farmers would be able to earn extra income from wheat this year if the weather stayed favourable. The production estimate this year is 15-16 maunds a bigha, he said, and prices and demand in the market are good.

Source: Dhaka Tribune. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.