the Symposium on Wheats for More Tropical Environments - cimmyt

60Although rice is <strong>the</strong> staple food inBangladesh. <strong>the</strong> country has long beenimporting wheat to make up its fooddeficits. Wheat flour is consumedprimarily as chapatis (handmade flatbread). bread in loaves and pastries.The dietary habit of <strong>the</strong> people haschanged considerably. and wheat hasnow become a desirable foodsupplement to rice.The extension service took an activerole in prOViding wide publicity on howto cultivate high-yielding varietiesthrough field demonstrations onvarieties. fertilizer rates and sowingtime. and through organizing blockfarms in irrigated areas. Researchfindings and recommendations werealso communicated to growers throughbooklets, leaflets. field days. radiobroadcasts and o<strong>the</strong>r audiovisualmeans.Seeds were made available throughcontinued imports, and local seedproduction was also streng<strong>the</strong>ned by<strong>the</strong> Bangladesh AgriculturalDevelopment Corporation (BADC) on<strong>the</strong>ir farms and on contract growers'fields. Farmers were advised to preserve<strong>the</strong>ir own seed in sealed kerosenecontainers. biscuit tins. diesel or petroldrums, thick polyethylene bags orear<strong>the</strong>n pitchers. About 80% of <strong>the</strong>total requirement for seed is metthrough farmers' stocks and salesamong <strong>the</strong>mselves.The Department of Food procured grainfrom growers at support price (a littleover <strong>the</strong> market price fixed by <strong>the</strong>government at <strong>the</strong> time of harvesting)so that. during <strong>the</strong> peak sale period. <strong>the</strong>price did not fall too much. Somecredits and loans were also proVidedthrough commercial banks for <strong>the</strong>purchase of inputs. such as fertilizerand irrigation equipment, to boostproduction.Production ConstraintsAccording to <strong>the</strong> Bangladesh SoUSurvey report. about 3.1 millionhectares of land are physically suitablefor wheat cultivation. Currently. <strong>the</strong> netarea available for wheat is about 1.5million hectares, after leaVing land foro<strong>the</strong>r winter crops. It has been observedthat, since 1980-81, <strong>the</strong>re has been nofur<strong>the</strong>r expansion of wheat cultivation,and a number of practical reasons existfor this fact. The potential area for <strong>the</strong>expansion of wheat is <strong>the</strong> land availableafter <strong>the</strong> harvest of transplanted amonrice. Amon rice is harvested inDecember. when soil moisture is <strong>the</strong>main limiting factor for <strong>the</strong> germinationof seeds. Irrigation facilities exist forabout 30% of <strong>the</strong> land and, ifamon riceproduction is affected by flood ordrought, many farmers prefer to growboro rice in <strong>the</strong> irrigated areas.SuffiCient seed of short-durationvarieties cannot be prOVided. AsBangladesh farmers prefer white grain,<strong>the</strong>re is always a heavy demand forwhite-grained varieties, especiallySonalika because of its goodperformance under late-seedingconditions.Threshing is a big problem. Farmers donot yet have effective, low-cost, smallscalethreshing equipment. All wheat isthreshed ei<strong>the</strong>r by trampling withbullocks or by beating with sticks. Theonset of early monsoon rains frequentlydestroys many harvested crops. Somecompetition from o<strong>the</strong>r winter crops,such as mustard and lentils, existsnow. because of <strong>the</strong> high market priceof <strong>the</strong>se crops. Also, <strong>the</strong> wheatprocurement price has not kept pacewith <strong>the</strong> increased price of fertilizer andseed. Due to <strong>the</strong>se problems, farmersare not encouraged to bring more areasunder wheat cultivation.