Aman plants on 15,000 bighas of land damaged

Aman plants on about 15,000 bighas of land have been damaged by flood water at 120 affected villages in five upazilas of the district.

Around 10 thousand flood-affected farmers of the villages have no means to overcome the losses caused by flood. They said they need immediate help from the government to recoup the losses.

“We have sought help from the government to buy aman seedlings from other areas,” said flood-affected farmer Nur Hossain, 55, of Kutirpar village in Aditmari upazila. 

Mantaz Miah, 62, a farmer of Sindurna village in Hatibandha upazila said, "I cultivated aman on ten bighas of land, which has been damaged by flood water. I don't have aman seedlings to replant,” he said, adding that his land may remain barren this season.

Saher Ali, 50, a farmer at Kalmati village in Lalmonirhat Sadar, said aman plants on his five bighas of land have been damaged by flood water. “Farmers living in river basin villages faced flood from mid-June to mid-July in the past, but this year the flood came late, doing great harm to agriculture,” he said.

“Aman on my eight bighas of land have been damaged and there is no time to replant aman in the damaged fields,” said farmer Nazrul Islam, 68, of the same village.

According to the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) in Lalmonirhat, aman was cultivated on 83,618 hectares of land in five upazilas of the district this year, but flood damaged plants on around 15,000 bighas of land.

The late flood has harmed agriculture, said Safayet Hossain, deputy director of DAE in Lalmonirhat. Some affected farmers have a stock of extra aman seedlings and they will transplant those in their fields, but most farmers will face shortage of seedlings.

Necessary steps will be taken to help the affected framers to recoup their losses, he added.