The government is set to provide Tk 572.5 million incentives to the country’s farmers to boost cultivation and production of Aus.
As many as 1.0 million small and marginal farmers across the country are getting free seeds and fertilisers under this incentive, according to a press release issued on Tuesday.
Under this incentive, a farmer is getting 5.0 kg seed, 10 kg di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) and 10 kg muriate of potash or MOP fertiliser required for cultivation in one bigha of land to increase the production of high yielding paddy.
These incentives are being provided from the Ministry of Agriculture's regular budget for agricultural rehabilitation assistance and the seeds and seedlings sector.
These incentives will be distributed at the field level soon, it added.
Rice was cultivated on 1.15 million hectares during the Aus season in FY '22, which was 1.30 million hectares in FY '21. Aus contributed 9.0 per cent to the overall production, according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).
According to the agriculture ministry, it had targeted 39.5 million tonnes of rice in FY '22 - 3.6 million tonnes in Aus, 15 million tonnes in Aman, and 20.9 million tonnes in this ongoing Boro season.
The country produced an all-time high of 37.48 million tonnes of rice in FY '21 - Aus contributed nearly 9.0 per cent of the total production then.
