Aman rice output hits record 1.73 crore tonnes

Farmers bagged a record 1.73 crore tonnes of rice during the last Aman season as they expanded the cultivation of high-yielding and hybrid seed varieties.

Recorded in the fiscal year 2025-26, the rain-fed crop was grown on 57.36 lakh hectares, which was 2.19 percent higher year on year, according to production estimates released by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) recently.

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The acreage under broadcast and local rice varieties cultivated during the rainy season dropped. However, the area under inbred or high-yielding varieties (HYVs), which cover most of the Aman acreage, increased by 3 percent year on year to 46.50 lakh hectares in the fiscal year 2025-26 from the previous year.

Hybrid rice acreage grew by 5 percent to 3.62 lakh hectares.

“Favourable weather, the use of improved seeds and the proper application of fertiliser have given a boost to Aman production,” said the BBS.

Aman rice accounts for roughly 40 percent of annual rice production. Overall output increased by 5.11 percent this year to 1.73 crore tonnes from 1.65 crore tonnes a year ago, also because of higher yield per hectare.

The spike in rice production during the previous Aman season offset the fall in production in the Aus season in the fiscal year 2025-26. Aus, the laggard in rice production, declined by 3 percent, mainly due to a reduction in both acreage and yield.

The BBS data showed that total rice production grew by 4 percent year on year to 2.0 crore tonnes during the Aus and Aman seasons from the same period a year ago.

The agency is yet to release its estimate of the production for the largest rice season, Boro, harvested during the May-June period of 2026.

In April, the US Department of Agriculture, in its Grain and Feed report on Bangladesh, forecast a marginal decline in Boro production due to lower yields caused by disruptions in irrigation and fertiliser application resulting from fuel and fertiliser shortages.