Cold spell, labour crisis hamper Boro farming

Prolonged cold spell and high wages of farm labourers hamper Boro cultivation in northernmost Sundarganj upazila under the district, during the peak period for transplanting the seedlings in the low-lying fields.

Boro seedbeds in different areas are turning reddish due to cold injuries, and normal growth of seedlings is badly hampered while labourers face utter difficulties in plucking short seedlings and transplanting those in fields due to cold spell and dense fog, said farmers.

Amid the adverse weather, labourers often refuse to work in swampy Boro fields and those who agree to work demand higher wages.

“In this biting cold, a farm labourer charges Tk 500 per day, whereas in normal situation the wage would be between Tk 250 to Tk 300,” said Abul Kashem, a farmer of Tarapur.

“We have to work amid the unbearable condition in the icy cold swampy Boro fields with bare feet and hands,” said Taleb Mia, a farm labourer of the area.

“As my two-decimal plots of Boro seedlings have started dying due to persistent cold spell and foggy weather, it needs immediate plucking. But the work is being delayed due to crisis of labourers,” said Tara Mia, another farmer of Santiram.

“Immediate transplantation of Boro seedlings is required for the low lying areas, because late transplanted seedlings may go under rainwater before harvest,” said Alifuddin, a sharecropper of Belka.

According to upazila agriculture department, farmers have prepared Boro seedbeds on 13,085 hectares of land in Sundarganj upazila this season while transplanting has been completed on only ten percent of the targeted area.

“This time longstanding cold wave and thick fog adversely affects Boro seedlings, but hopefully, overall Boro cultivation would not be affected that much despite a bit late cultivation,” said Rashedul Islam, upazila agriculture officer, Sundarganj.