EVALUATION OF PREPAID AND PRIVATE IRRIGATION PROGRAM FOR BORO RICE CULTIVATION AT THAKURGAON DISTRICT

Abstract

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is the most important food grain in Bangladesh. It is extensively cultivated throughout the year and it is also staple food crop in Bangladesh. This experiment was carried out to compare the irrigation cost between prepaid and private irrigation program in the agricultural field at Khochabari union, Thakurgaon sadar, Thakurgaon at farmer’s field during boro season. Three different treatment namely prepaid irrigation program (DTW) (T1), Traditional irrigation program (DTW) (T2), Shallow system (T3) were used for this experiment. Rice variety BRRI dhan28 was used to conduct the experiment. The results revealed that the irrigation cost for prepaid irrigation program (DTW), Traditional irrigation program (DTW), Shallow system were 4200, 6200 and 15000 Tk/ha, respectively. Prepaid irrigation system saved 32% irrigation cost compared to the traditional irrigation cost. Total production cost were 62,845, 64,845 and 73,645 Tk/ha for Prepaid system, Traditional system and Shallow system respectively. Average irrigation required for prepaid system, traditional system and Shallow system were 2283.4, 3294.7 and 3723.1 L/Kg, respectively. Due to the propar management the gross return for the Prepaid irrigation system, traditional irrigation system and Shallow system were 93,848, 93,848and 90,250 respectively. The benefit cost ratio for the prepaid irrigation system, Traditional irrigation system and Shallow system were 1.49, 1.45, 1.23, respectively. The prepaid irrigation system is a time consuming method for the farmers and the farmers can easily take the irrigation water from the Deep Tube Well. This system also a digital innovation for irrigation.