monsoon dependent agriculture to low-risk, irrigation-based agriculture. The average area of Boro rice has increased
substantially in last 20 years (Akter and Jaim 2002). The population of Bangladesh is growing by two million every year and may increase by another 24 millions over the next 12 years (Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics 2003). Bangladesh will require
about 4.5 million tons of more rice to feed the increased population by 2020. A large portion of this increased production is expected to come from expansion of irrigation based Boro rice cultivation (Wahid et al. 2007).