GOVERNMENT’S boro rice and paddy procurement drive may fail in Dinajpur this season, as market price is higher than the government rate.
   District food office officials said the government had decided to procure 1.51 lakh tonnes of rice and 11,325 tonnes of paddy from the district during the current season that began on May 1 and will continue till August 30.
   But the food godown officials could buy only 10 tonnes of rice and 1 tonnes of paddy till May 15.
   In this situation, the millers are not signing agreement with the food department apprehending huge loss. There are total 12,000 millers in the district but only 60 of them have signed agreement with the department till now.
   Businessmen from different parts of the country are coming to the district to buy rice and the millers prefer to sell rice to them, as the market price is higher than the government rate.
   The government has fixed the price of per kg rice at Tk 18 while per maund (one maund equals to 37.32kg) of paddy at Tk 440. But per kg rice is being sold between Tk 22 and Tk 23 while per maund paddy between Tk 440 and 445 in the local markets.
   Department of Agricultural Extension officials said farmers of the district cultivated boro on 1.61 lakh hectares of land with an output target of 6.38 lakh tonnes this season.

AVIAN influenza is spreading in Jaldhaka upazila of Nilphamari as about 1,500 domestic fowls of indigenous species were culled at village Berubon on Thursday night and Friday morning.
   This is the second consecutive detection of avian influenza in this upazila after West Gulmonda Master Para village where 4,500 domestic fowls were also culled on May 10. There are more reports of death of fowls in suspected avian influenza in different parts of the upazila.
   The culled fowls include 1,104 chickens, 48 ducks and 123 pigeons, upazila livestock office officials said. Three hundred and forty eggs were also culled.
   The officials said Tazul Islam, a farmer of village Berubon at Shimulbari union under Jaldhaka, brought samples of some of his dead domestic chickens of local variety to the livestock office. The samples were sent to Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute at Savar in Dhaka for testing on Tuesday.
   Dr Sekendar Ali, district livestock officer, said the BLRI report, which identified the disease as avian influenza, reached Nilphamari on Thursday and a team led by Jaldhaka upazila nirbahi officer Mohammad Salehuddin and first class magistrate Mamunul Hasan along with officers and employees of district and upazila livestock office, army, BDR and police went to the affected village at the same night.
   They started killing and burring of domestic chickens, ducks and pigeons at about 11:00pm and it continued till Friday noon. The upazila administration told the poultry farmers that they would be compensated.
   Locals said some 400 to 500 chickens, ducks and pigeons died at Berubon of an unknown disease in the last two weeks.