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Water shortage drives farmers to wheat cultivation

Sohel Parvez
Wheat acreage has increased in the current plantation season as farmers shift away from paddy due to shortage of water for irrigation during the dry season.
This winter, farmers planted wheat on 4.81 lakh hectares of land, according to an estimate from Department of Agricultural Extension. The figure is 12 percent higher than in the previous year.
Wheat requires a less amount of water than paddy and the production
costs are lower as well, Paritosh Kumar Malaker, director in-charge of Dinajpur-based Wheat Research Centre.
The declining underground water table in the north and northwest regions means there is not enough water for paddy irrigation. As a result, many farmers are gradually moving to wheat cultivation, he added.
Wheat acreage, which fell to its lowest level of 3.58 lakh hectares in fiscal 2011-12, started to rise a year later. The area under the cereal rose to 4.29 lakh hectares in fiscal 2013-14 from 4.16 lakh hectares the
previous year.
The other reasons for the farmers' renewed interest in the cereal are: its relatively stable prices in recent years, the higher yield of seeds released by state-run agriculture research institutes and government purchase.
The food office bought 1.49 lakh tonnes of wheat from the domestic market after last year’s harvest.
The crop extension office has targeted 13.3 lakh tonnes of wheat output from harvests by the end of March and early April.
"Crop prospects look good due to prolonged winter and rainfall in some areas. We hope wheat output may exceed last year's level if there is no natural disaster," said AZM Momtajul Karim, director general of DAE.
Wheat production touched an 11-year high of 13.02 lakh tonnes in fiscal 2013-14, according to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.
The country needs 40 lakh tonnes of wheat on average, two-thirds of which are imported every year.
Between July 1 last year and January 8 this year, wheat imports rose 36 percent year-on to 15.62 lakh tonnes, according to the food ministry.
Early this month, USDA Foreign Agriculture Service in its GAIN report said Bangladesh's wheat imports would be 33 lakh tonnes in fiscal 2014-15 due to competitive international prices and strong domestic demand.