Porimol Palma, The Daily Star, 22 June 2008

The country now produces around three crore tonnes of rice a year with Boro output 3.66 tonnes per hectare and that of Aman a little above two tonnes. But Boro yield can be raised to six tonnes and Aman output to five tonnes a hectare, the study said.

The major factor behind the wide gap between present yield and potential output of Boro is excessive irrigation, says M Eftekharul Alam, assistant chief engineer of the BADC, who carried out the study for more than two decades.

Explaining this, Eftekhar said, “On an average our farmers use water 50 percent more than is needed for Boro cultivation. Such excessive use of water allows fertiliser to go so deep in the soil that paddy plants cannot collect nutrient from there. This waste of fertiliser reduces yield.”

Quoting a report of the International Rice Research Institute, he said irrigation efficiency in Bangladesh is the lowest in the region. Cost of irrigation in Bangladesh is $117.60 per hectare compared to $25.58 in India, $17.94 in Thailand and $17.98 in Vietnam.

In Bangladesh, farmers traditionally do not irrigate Aman field, even during panicle initiation and flowering, which decreases yield. Farmers now have average knowledge on use of seeds and fertiliser but very poor knowledge on irrigation, the study notes.

“This situation should be changed by training farmers on farm irrigation because the country’s success in food production has been possible due to irrigation during Boro season,” says Eftekhar, now doing PhD on improvement of irrigation efficiency and productivity at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET).

The country produced 311 lakh tonnes of rice in 2007 compared to only 85 lakh tonnes in 1960. Boro contributed 70 percent of this increased production, according to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics and Agriculture Information Services.

Boro cultivation now covers around 44 lakh hectares, Aman 58 lakh hectares and Aus only 11 lakh hectares. Aus production was not considered in the study.

Average output of high yielding variety (HYV) and hybrid Boro now is 3.66 tonnes per hectare. But output of HYV Boro can be raised to 4.0 to 7.5 tonnes a hectare and that of hybrid Boro to more than 7.0 tonnes, the study said.

And 10 lakh to 15 lakh hectares of land, which now remain fallow for various reasons in greater Barisal, Sylhet and some other areas, particularly char lands, can be brought under cultivation by using the water now wasted due to excessive irrigation for Boro cultivation.

Noting that Japan now produces more than six tonnes of rice a hectare, Eftekhar said a little effort could make Bangladesh a rice-exporting country. Bangladesh Agriculture University Professor Dr MA Sattar Mandol, who has made extensive studies on irrigation, said there is much scope to increase irrigation efficiency in Bangladesh.

“There is around 1.5 tonnes to 2.0 tonnes of yield gap (gap between present and potential output) per hectare. It is possible to meet this gap through efficient irrigation, use of better seeds and balanced application of fertiliser.”

He however said, “It is not so easy to bring fallow land under cultivation. It needs special efforts.”

Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha . Chittagong, The Daily New Age, 30 November 2007 

The work of the Mohamayachara Irrigation Extension Project under Mirsarai upazila in the district being executed by the Water Development Board at an estimated cost of Tk 21.82 crore is progressing.
   WDB officials said the project which is one of the largest of the organisation in the irrigation sector will help bring at least 8,160 hectares of land under cultivation.
   Nasir Uddin, executive engineer of WDB said the remaining works of the project is scheduled to complete by June next year on subject to availability of fund from the government.
   Officials said a large number of people under project areas will be benefited after successful completion of the project and it may usher a green revolution in the area.
   The project has been designed in such a way so that adequate quantity of rain water can be preserved for farming the land during the dry season and save the crop from the onrush of water from hilly areas during the monsoon.

EDITORIAL

The Daily Star, 17 May 2008

BUT for the boro bumper, good wheat crop and abundance of potatoes we would have been in dire straits in a food-short world today. Our farmers can be credited with rising from the catastrophic floods and Sidr with a firm determination to make up for the losses. They have proved that with their will and government’s assistance, the farmers can work wonders.

The government should exactly know to what extent their fuel subsidy, distribution of seeds and fertiliser and special irrigation connections paid dividends. The overarching fact is, however, that the farmers diligently and prudently used every inch of land they could plough — furrows, beels, haors and even some arid lands that were previously written off. That is where our potential lies for optimising land use in a situation where urbanisation, industrialisation, expansion of habitat and land erosion threaten to reduce land:man ratio even more adversely.

The global context marked by a shift from cereal to biofuel production has lessened food output in cereal exporting countries. Even their contribution to WFP is declining, not to speak of the export ban they have clamped. All this impels us to concentrate on and step up domestic agricultural productivity and maintain our own buffer stock of food to see us through rainy days. Even we can export rice for the good of others.

Thus, our national focus ought to be now on agriculture and alleviation of farmers’ economic and working conditions. The pledge made by the chief adviser in Dinajpur who called farmers ‘the national heroes’ to prioritise agriculture in the national budget ought to be translated into reality in some identifiable areas of concern. First and foremost, soil fertility issue has to be addressed squarely. Over time, our land fertility has declined due to indiscriminate or erroneous use of fertilisers, pesticides and insecticides, or lack of nurture. Besides, importantly, the water table has gone down. Shrimp culture and surging tide in the sea have led to salinity intrusion into cultivable lands. The BRRI is credited with having evolved new water resistant varieties of seed. Its potential has to be fully realised in collaboration with successful rice institutes in the region. All these point to the pressing need for vigorous agricultural research with adequate budgetary provisions made for the same. No measly amounts would do any more, nor a visionless approach to the future.

One fundamental weakness in agriculture management has been the sidestepping of the agricultural marketing imperatives. The farmers must get remunerative price for their produces. This requires two things: one, keeping the cost of production low and allowing them to sell their produce without having to go through middlemen. The idea of having wholesale markets dispersed in closer proximity to farming households is a good one.

Last but not least, storage facilities will have to string out all over the country if we have to curb the huge amounts of crop wastes we incur every year.