Rice output to fall by one third in 11 S dists

An IRRI-Boro field in Charfasion upazila, Bhola is drying up due to lack of irrigation.. PHOTO: STAR

Irrigation is being greatly hampered due to abnormal price hike of fuel, now selling at up to Tk 30 per litre in rural areas against Tk 17 fixed by the government, according to field level officials of AED and farmers.

Urea, the main fertiliser used for rice production is selling at between Tk 380 and Tk 400 per 50 kg bag against Tk 280 three weeks ago.

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AED sources said the production may be reduced by one third if the situation continues two weeks more.

January to mid-March is the prime time for IRRI-Boro cultivation.

The AED fixed a production target of 10.25 lakh tonnes of Irri-Boro rice from 3,15,600 hectares in the 11 districts. These are Barisal, Jhalakati, Pirojpur, Patuakhali, Bhola, Barguna, Faridpur, Madaripur, Gopalganj, Rajbari and Shariatpur districts.

Of the total lands, 2, 81,600 hectares have been brought under cultivation of HYV varieties and 34,000 hectares under local varieties.

The sources said rice production will be dependent mainly on use of ground water as most of the small canals have dried up. But a sizeable number of deep and shallow tube wells are inoperative due to high price of diesel, they said.

Wadud Ali Khan, BADC block supervisor in Kalapara said a number of tube wells in his command area can not be put into operation due to high price of fuel.

Ruhul Amin Molla, IRRI scheme manager in Charfession under Bhola district, said production target will not be achieved due to high price of fuel and fertiliser. Besides Urea, TSP, DAP and MOP fertilisers are also beyond the reach of farmers.

TSP is selling at around Tk 600 against Tk 740 two weeks back, DAP at Tk 880 against Tk 700, MOP at Tk 650 against Tk 400 and AFP at around Tk 900 against 750.

The dealers and retailers blame each other for the high price of fertiliers.

Retailers say dealers have enough stock of fetrtiliser but do not sell those unless higher prices are offered.

But dealer Shishir Kumar Kundu of Gournadi claimed that he received only 520 bags of fertiliser in January and not a single bag in February where as the daily demand is for 500 bags.