Bangladeshi farmers are expecting a better wheat production this season as 80% of the harvest has so far been completed with excellent yield rates in the northern region.

Harvesting of the crop began last month and the farmers are getting 12 maunds (40 kg a maund) wheat on an average from each bigha (33 decimals) and the harvest is expected to be completed by the middle of this month.

Market and farmer sources said that the newly harvested wheat was selling at BDT650 (US$9.4) per maund now as the department concerned has yet to start official wheat purchase at the government fixed rate of BDT19.5 (US$0.3) per kg (US$11.3 per maund).

Though the farmers could not achieve the fixed wheat farming target this season for various reasons including crop diversification and large-scale tobacco cultivation, the crop grew excellent under favourable climatic conditions giving excellent yields.

The Department of Agriculture Extension had fixed a target of producing 623,398 lakh tonnes of wheat from 259,749 hectares of land, but the farmers could bring 233,997 hectares under its farming in the region during the current rabi crop season.

The fixed wheat farming target fell short by 25,752 hectares due to various reasons including record tobacco farming on 33,764 hectares land this season in the region, according to officals.

While talking to media recently, international agri-researchers and scientists said that large-scale adoption of the Conservation Agriculture-based technologies could largely increase wheat productions at lower costs in the country.