Agriculture Minister Abdur Razzaque on Thursday said the country will not see any shortage of food during the Covid-19 crisis as more 83,000 hectares of land for Boro paddy has been brought under cultivation this year.
Terming Bangladesh has made a target to plant some 4.8 million hectares of land this year while it targets to produce around 20.05 million tonnes of rice in this Boro season, he said there is no risk of food insecurity in the country if the country can harvest the paddy successfully.
The minister made the remarks while inaugurating the boro paddy harvesting programme at Astana village of Joykals Union under South Sunamganj upazila in the district from the conference room of the ministry virtually.
Emphasis has been laid on increasing the cultivation of hybrid varieties of paddy for the higher productivity this year, he said.
As a result, the cultivation of hybrid paddy has increased in about 300,000 hectares of land as compared to last year, the agriculture minister insists.
Even if the average yield is more than 1.0 tonnes per hectare, the production of paddy will increase by at least 300,000 tonnes, the minister added.
