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Wheat acreage may shrink

SOHEL PARVEZ
Wheat acreage may shrink this season as many farmers have shifted to maize and other crops to make higher profits, said agriculturists.
Once the second biggest cereal after rice, wheat has been sown on 2.92 lakh hectares of land till December 19.
This was 75 percent of this season's target of 3.90 lakh hectares, according to the Department of Agricultural
Extension's (DAE) data.
Naresh C Deb Barma, director general of the Bangladesh Wheat and Maize Research Institute, said growers had nearly completed sowing wheat.
Yet, more areas will come under the crop's cultivation as still there are growers who will plant the cereal in the remaining days of this month, he said. Overall, acreage may reach 3.25 lakh hectares this winter, said Barma.
Last year, wheat acreage fell 15 percent year-on-year to 3.51 lakh
hectares, with growers bagging 11.53 lakh tonnes of the grains, according to the DAE data.
He said one of the main reasons behind the reduced acreage was a section of farmers switching to maize from wheat during winter.
"It appears that a lot of farmers find maize more profitable than wheat as yield of maize is higher than wheat and there is demand for the corn in the feed industry," he said.
The cultivation is falling at a time when import of the cereal is rising, spurred by increasing demand from flour-dependent industries, shift in consumers' diet preference and increased use as a substitute for the more expensive rice.
Between July 1 and December 12 of the current fiscal year, private importers brought in 22.15 lakh tonnes of wheat.
Private import accounted for 91 percent of the previous fiscal year's total import of 58.80 lakh tonnes, according to food ministry data.
This fiscal year's total wheat import may reach 60 lakh tonnes, said the Food and Agriculture Organization recently.
Officials said growers would be interested to sow wheat if the government directly purchases it from them. The government bought one lakh tonnes of locally grown wheat in 2017. This year, it did not procure any, according to the food ministry.
"Cultivation of wheat is slowly being discouraged. One of the main reasons is the risk of crop loss for blast (fungal disease) attack," said a senior official of the DAE seeking to remain unnamed.
In contrast, the government is encouraging maize cultivation to increase production by providing incentives such as seed and fertiliser to growers, he added.
Last year, the average yield of winter maize per hectare was 9.11 tonnes whereas it was 3.28 tonnes for wheat, according to the DAE.
Barma said the production target of maize for this fiscal year has been set at 50 lakh tonnes.