The aman harvest is under way in the fields of Satkhira Sadar upazila, and farmers growing the hybrid variety Arize AZ 2241 ST told Barta24 they are getting up to about 24 maunds of paddy per bigha. They credit good weather, timely care and proper fertiliser use.
Sub-assistant agriculture officer Afzal Hossain said the variety yielded 23 to 24 maunds a bigha in the transplanted aman season. The grain is slender and cooks into separate, flavourful rice, and the straw grows to about 1 metre 10 inches, which makes good cattle fodder and finds a ready market.
With a growing period of only 120 to 125 days, he said, farmers can bring the crop home early and sow mustard, the main rabi crop, and winter vegetables on the same land. That combination of good yield in a short time and room for another crop has drawn wide interest.
Farmer Makbul Mia of Madhabkati village said the paddy can be cut quickly, suffers little disease, lodges less in storms and wind, and gave him much more than other varieties. Because mustard, wheat and potatoes can follow on the same land, many plan to grow it again next season.
Chandan Kumar Mitra, customer connect manager (seed) at Bayer CropScience Ltd, which markets the seed, said the crop can be harvested 117 to 122 days from the seedbed, is resistant to bacterial leaf blight and produces almost no empty grains. These are the company's claims and have not been independently verified.
According to the company, a short-duration aman leaves room for mustard or another rabi crop and then the next rice crop, so the land is never left idle.
Photo: Balaram Mahalder / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Source: Barta24
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