The government is set to provide Tk 31 crore in incentives to encourage farmers to grow paddy during the aus season that begins in March.

Under the scheme, 2.26 lakh farmers will be given seeds and fertiliser for free, along with cash for irrigation to cultivate the high-yielding and Nerica varieties of aus rice, the dry season crop.

‘We are continuing the flow of incentives to ensure the advancement of agriculture," Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury said at a media briefing at her ministry.

The government has been providing incentives for the past eight years in the form of input support to rejuvenate cultivation of rice during aus and boost food production to meet the growing needs of the population.

This is the fifth consecutive year that the paddy acreage during aus has fallen, as many farmers frustrated by the low prices switched to other crops, mainly jute, said agricultural officials.

Last fiscal year, farmers planted paddy on 9.42 lakh hectares during the aus season, down 7.37 percent year-on-year. Subsequently, aus production declined 7 percent year-on-year to 21.34 lakh tonnes, according to provisional estimates from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.

Once the second biggest crop, aus lost its appeal to boro, which provided higher yield. Aus now accounts for 7 percent of total annual rice output.

Agriculture ministry officials said the objective of providing incentives is also to familiarise farmers with the newly introduced varieties of rice for cultivation during the aus season.

The ministry will provide 5kg of HYV seeds or 10kg of Nerica seeds, an African drought-tolerant rice variety, to each farmer along with 20kg of urea, and 10kg of Diammonium Phosphate and Muriate of Potash for the cultivation of rice on one bigha of land.

They will also get Tk 400 in cash to meet their irrigation needs and another Tk 400 for weeding.

The expenditure per farmer will beTk 1,355, according to officials. In exchange, the government is expecting production of 70,100 tonnes of paddy, the value of which is estimated to be Tk 222.32 crore.

The incentive package will costTk 1,950 for each farmer, which is expected to grow paddy worth Tk 21.4 crore, according to the press meet.

The ministry also announced incentives worth Tk 1.9 crore to encourage pesticide-free pumpkin, jute and sugarcane cultivation.