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The government will provide an incentive worth Tk 900 million (90 crore) to boost cultivation and production of hybrid varieties of Boro paddy across the country.
The government issued a notification to this effect on Thursday. Field-level distribution of the incentive is set to commence shortly.
Under this incentive programme, a total of 1.44 million (14.40 lakh) small and marginal farmers will receive 2.0 kg of hybrid seeds for their one bigha of land (33 decimals) free of cost, according to an agriculture ministry release.
As per the ministry estimates, this initiative is projected to increase hybrid rice cultivation in the Boro season by 192,000 hectares which would help get an additional 950,000 tonnes of rice, with an average yield of 4.95 tonnes per hectare.
In the last fiscal year (FY'23), the government provided free hybrid seeds to 150,000 farmers, leading to an expansion of hybrid paddy cultivation by 0.2 million hectares and a substantial increase in rice production by nearly 1.0 million tonnes (983,000 tonnes).
The arable land under hybrid rice cultivation in Boro season almost doubled in last five years, with Mymensingh emerging as the top producer district, a study of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) revealed.
The study, titled "Strategies to increase cultivation of high-yielding hybrid and inbreed varieties of rice" showed that hybrid rice fields during the Boro season increased to 1.21 million hectares or 24.8 per cent of the total Boro acreage in the fiscal year (FY) 2020-21 from 14 per cent in FY 17.
The government's procurement of food grains in a large quantity and developing local hybrid rice varieties contributed largely to such growth, resulting in high production, said the study.