The Food Crop in Bangladesh

Rice is a kind of food grain. It is obtained from paddy. It grows on the low and marshy lands. India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Phillipines, Japan, Burma, Combodia, Malayasia, Indonesia are the main rice producing countries in Asia. rice is the staple food. There are mainly three kinds of rice in our country named Aush, Aman and Boro.

The cultivation of rice is a very difficult process. The land is to be ploughed well. Then seeds of paddy are sown and weeds are to be pulled out. After about three months, paddy grows at the upper end of the plants. Aush is sown in March and reaped in July. Aman is sown in July and August and reaped in November. In some places, Aman is cultivated through transplatation. In low-lying areas Aush and Aman are sown together in March. There Aush is reaped in July and Aman in November. Boro is cultiveted in a different way. First seeds are sown in a separate land. When the plants grow up 8 to 10 inches, they are pulled out and transplanted in a marshy or muddy land. Boro is planted in winter and reaped in summer. There is another variety of rice. It is called IRRI. IRRI may be planted all the year round. When paddy ripens, the peasants reap it and take it home in bundles. The paddy is then threshed and dried in the sun and husked. This kind of rice is called sundried rice. Sometimes they are boiled and dried in the sun. After that they are husked and we get boiled rice. We get many kinds of food from rice. We make Chira, Muri and Khai from paddy. We make different kinds of cakes, polao, biriani, firni from rice. We cook rice and eat it with curry. Rice is the most popular food in Bangladesh. We are too much dependent on rice. Every year our government spends a huge amount of money for importing rice. We should find substitutes of rice like potato or wheat. We should pay more attention for the production of varieties of rice and try to make two or three harvests a year by adopting modern technology in agriculture.