Target set for 42pc higher corn production
The government is looking to produce 42 per cent higher corn at 56.93 lakh tonnes in today's fiscal year to meet up the developing demand for grains in the feed industry.
"Work is underway to increase the annual maize development to 1 crore tonnes next five years," said Agriculture Minister Muhammad Abdur Razzaque.
The production of corn, also called maize, rose 12.50 % year-on-year to 40.15 lakh tonnes in the fiscal year 2019-20. The agriculture ministry has established a target to create one crore tonnes of the grain by 2025 through innovation and contemporary technical assistance.
"If we can do this, the country can not only achieve self-sufficiency but will also earn a whole lot of forex through exports," Razzaque said found in a press release recently.
In the last decade, many farmers in Bangladesh switched from other crops to maize to benefit from the burgeoning demand of the make from the neighborhood feed mills.
These mills annually produce practically 60-70 lakh tonnes of feed for the country's sizeable livestock and aquaculture sectors.
Maize accounts for about 50 to 60 % of the raw materials required to try to make feed, which is mainly consumed simply by poultry farms.
AMERICA Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently predicted that corn production in Bangladesh would reach 45 lakh tonnes by the finish of 2020-21 advertising year, up 1 lakh tonnes from the state forecast of the agency.
If this prediction is realised, the corn development will be a 9.7 % greater than USDA's official 2019-20 estimate. The agency's marketing yr starts in May and leads to April.
The agriculture ministry has geared to produce 56.93 lakh tonnes maize in today's fiscal year.
Some farmers are reporting lower yields because of hefty rains before harvest, said the USDA's Foreign Agriculture Service (FAS) in its Grain and Feed Update on Bangladesh.
Corm imports are actually forecast to improve slightly to 15 lakh tonnes.
In line with the Trade Data Keep an eye on, global corn exports to Bangladesh rose 39.2 % over the first five months in today's marketing year compared to last year.
The retail price of corn in addition has increased in comparison to its value last month as a result of the recent floods and the Covid-19 pandemic.
In October, the common corn retail price was Tk 22 per kilogram, 28 % higher than in this past year, the USDA report said.
Maize was first cultivated on 5.40 lakh hectares in the ongoing advertising year, up from 5.10 lakh hectares a year earlier.
FAS Dhaka's forecast for Bangladesh's corn intake for the 2020-21 marketing year is 50,000 tonnes over the state USDA forecast of 55 lakh tonnes.
If realised, the intake of corn would rise by 5.8 % when compared to previous year.
According to a recently available report from the meals and Agriculture Organisation, corn has got two specific uses in Bangladesh: this is a major component in feed meant for livestock and seafood, and for humans, it is employed for snacks and cornflour.
The USDA report said the pandemic had not had a significant effect on Bangladesh's grain production for the marketing year.
However, severe weather conditions in Bangladesh, which were only available in May and finished in August, offers impacted the country's rice development and moderately impacted its corn production, it added.
Maize may be the second-largest crop found in Bangladesh after paddy and accounted for approximately 10 % of the full total grain production within the last fiscal year.
