Impact of Tangail flood

Different crops worth around Tk 213 crore were damaged on 19,756 hectares of land due to the recent flood in the district.

Of these, around 16,755 hectares were damaged fully.

District acting Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) Abu Adnan said around 18.47 percent of 107,225 hectares of croplands in the district were damaged in the flood.

Transplanted Aman on 14,800 hectares of land, seedbeds of paddy on 413 hectares, broadcast Aman on 2,899 hectares, Aus on 628 hectares, vegetables on 935 hectares, sugarcane on six hectares, banana on 42.3 hectares and other crops on 32.35 hectares of land were damaged in the flood, Adnan said.

The loss of rice, vegetables, banana and lemon amounts to about 54,453 tonnes, he said.

Only 16,549 of around 2,49,969 affected farmers are getting seeds and fertilisers under the post-flood rehabilitation programme, DAE sources said.

Around 10,000 farmers for mustard cultivation, 3,000 for maize, 2,100 for maskalai (pulse), 1,200 for summer til (oil seed), 225 for peanut and 24 farmers for Bt brinjal are getting the facility.

Around 3,584 farmers in Sadar upazila, 2,722 in Bhuapur, 2,502 in Nagarpur, 1,202 in Delduar, 1,902 in Mirzapur, 1,127 in Kalihati, 952 in Basail, 752 each in Gopalpur and Dhanbari, 552 in Ghatail and 502 in Sakhipur are getting the government support (pronodona), Adnan said.

The government fixed the number of the affected farmers for providing the support, he said, adding that only who incurred huge loss in the flood are getting the facility.

"The government also plans to provide support during the next Boro season," he added.

On the other hand, the flood-hit farmers are struggling hard to turn around due to problems like stagnant water on the fields, extra labour cost for clearing weeds and exorbitant prices of Aman seedlings.

Nurul Islam of Char Bhabla village in Kalihati upazila said transplanted Aman paddies on his two bighas of land were fully damaged after the onrush of water from the nearby Jamuna river during the third week of August.

"Many farmers, including I myself, in the area could not plant the paddy again due to stagnant floodwater in the fields," he added.

Dulal Miah of Pathrail village in Delduar upazila said Aman paddy on his 60 decimals of land was damaged and the field was full of weeds.

"After the floodwater receded from the field, I had to pay extra labour cost (Tk 500 per person per day) for clearing the weeds to plant paddy again, although getting good yield due to late cultivation is uncertain," he said.

Besides, the farmers could not plant Aman paddy again even after floodwater receded from their fields due to crisis of seedlings, villagers said.

"One hundred bundles of Aman seedlings cost Tk 250 to Tk 300 last year while the seedlings are being sold for Tk 1,000 to Tk 1,500 this year," said Abdur Rahman of Arjuna village in Bhuapur upazila. He said this while he was talking to this correspondent at Govindashi market where he came to buy seedlings.