Online Desk:

Bumper Boro production on the saline land in Khulna’s Koyra upazila has brought smiles to farmers. The people of Koyra, which was devastated by cyclones including Sidr several times, have now started to turn around again with a new hope.

Once only Bagda shrimp was cultivated in the saline land of Koyra. Due to frequent natural disasters, shrimps were affected by diseases, causing losses to farmers. As a result, farmers started Boro cultivation.  During a recent visit, the UNB correspondent found fields covered with ripe Boro paddy in Koyra Sadar, Bagali, Maharajpur, Maheshwaripur and Amadi unions of Koyra upazila.

Some of the farmers were preparing to harvest paddy and some started harvesting paddy and many others started threshing paddy in their own backyards. Rafiq Dhali of Koyra Sadar, Raghunath Das of Maharajpur, Rahima of Amadi, Sobhan Sheikh of Bagali said bumper yield will be achieved this time if rain doesn’t fall for 8/10 days.

Faruk Hossain, deputy assistant agriculture officer of the Department of Agricultural Extension, said the total cropland in Koyra upazila is 17,274 hectares.
This year, Boro was cultivated on 5725 hectares exceeding the target.

Upazila Agriculture Officer Abdullah Al Mamun said people in Koyra used live on cultivating shrimp in saline water areas and the Sundarbars, but they have been benefiting by cultivating watermelon and Boro paddy for the two years.