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April
13, 2000
Chittagong,
Apr 12 (UNB)- Blessed with favorable weather farmers in 33 thanas of 5
districts of the region is expecting a bumper harvest of boro this
season.
Agriculture
Extension Department officials said more than 2.7 lakh hectares of
land was brought under boro cultivation against the target of about
1.99 lakh hectares.
The
district-wise breakup is: Chittagong 72,500 hectares, Cox’s Bazar
38,000 hectares, Feni 29,150 hectares, Noakhali 43,674 hectares and
Laxmipur 23,975 hectares.
AED
expects a harvest of 5.73 lakh metric tons of paddy during the current
season.
Officials
said the farmers were inspired in boosting boro cultivation by soft
loans given from commercial banks and various NGOs.
The
banks disbursed Tk 52.0 lakh as agriculture loans and the NGOs
provided Tk 27 lakh.
The
banks gave Tk 27.0 lakh among farmers in Chittagong, Tk 7 lakh in
Cox’s Bazar, Tk 7 lakh in Feni, Tk 6 lakh in Noakhali and Tk 5 lakh
in Laxmipur.
Besides,
NGOs disbursed Tk 7 lakh among the growers in Chittagong, Tk 5 lakh
each in Cox’s Bazar and Feni, Tk 6 lakh in Noakhali and Tk 4 lakh in
Laxmipur districts.
Extensive
irrigation facilities and availability of fertilizers and pesticides
at fair price yielded positive impact on the field.
AED
officials further said some 11,320 power pumps, 246 deep tube-wells,
and 4,109 shallow tube-wells are being used in the Chittagong region
for irrigation to boro fields.
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