Farmers in Sadullapur upazila have started cultivation of purple paddy seeing the success in Sundarganj upazila, where it began two years back simply from curiosity and has spread to different upazilas.

Edilpur Union Parishad Chairman Rabbi Abdullah, Shutku Mia of Chalknadi village, Shakil Mia of Tarf Pahari village in Sadullapur upazila, among many others, have started planting seedlings of purple paddy, locally known as Beguni Dhan for its violet colour.

A farm labourer shows seedlings of purple paddy in Edilpur village in the upazila. Photo: Star

“Listening to the success story of cultivation of vitamin-enriched purple paddy in Sundarganj upazila, I became interest in farming the paddy and communicated with Sub-Assistant Agriculture Officer Tanjimul Hasan, who extended help to get purple paddy seeds,” Abdullah said.

Dulali Begum, member of local IPM farmer's club of Ramjibon village, brought a few grams of purple paddy seeds from one of her relatives in Gazipur district, who collected the paddy from a Boro field early in 2017 simply because of its purple colour.

Dulali planted seedlings of purple paddy on 25 decimals of land as per instruction of the upazila agriculture department the same year. After harvesting, a farmer can get 25 maunds of purple paddy per bigha, according to Sundarganj agriculture office.

Purple paddy produced around 25 maunds per bigha after harvesting in the last Boro crop season, whereas Boro produced 18 maunds to 20 maunds per bigha. Farming of purple paddy started for the first time in Gaibandha and created curiosity among the farmers, said Sundarganj Upazila Agriculture Officer Rashedul Islam.

The purple paddy plant is about 90 centimetres long and has 20 pikes to 28 spikes and each spike contains 200 corns to 313 corns, whereas HYV Boro crop has 180 corns to 190 corns in each spike. Purple paddy needs 140 days for harvesting, and the seedlings preserved in the last Boro season are being planted this season, he added.

According to agriculture experts, purple paddy first originated in China. It contains high amount of vitamins and fibre, but they are still in the dark about recently developed purple paddy in Sundarganj upazila, the agriculture officer said, adding that they have sent a sample of the paddy to the rice research laboratory for further investigation.

Production of purple paddy was 25 maunds per bigha higher than the yield of Boro crop in the last Boro crop season. Later, the paddy was cultivated in the Aman crop season and got similar output, he added.