Job crisis in flood-hit Lalmonirhat

Farm labourers in the district are facing crisis as no jobs are availab le in the agriculture sector of the flood-hit areas.

Most of them are trained and skilled for farm work, and they cannot get jobs in the other sectors. So they are passing their days in hardship , the locals said.

“I earned Tk 300 for planting Aman saplings on August 11, and I have been jobless since then,” said Nuru Miah, 48, of Dharla river basin Basuriya village in Sadar upazila. “Except farm work, I don't have any other skill, but I cannot get a job in the agriculture sector as it is badly affected by floodwater,” he said, adding that he and his four-member family are passing their days in hardship.

Sahedul Islam, 52, of Kalmati village said he has been without job for the last ten days, but he and all other farm labourers were busy before the flood.“Flood makes us jobless, it gives us only sorrow and pain,” he said.

Yakub Ali, 56, of  Gobordhan village in Aditmari upazila said crops, mainly Aman, were damaged by floodwater so there was no need to hire farm labourers. “I hired at least 10 labourers for working in the Aman field of ten bighas of land during this season last year, but flood has deprived us of the opportunity this year,” he said.

Safiya Begum,42, wife of farm labourer Hafizul Islam of Char Shiberkuti in Sadar upazila, said as her husband is facing job crisis, she has started working in the kitchen of a restaurant in the town, but the pay of Tk 150 daily  is insufficient to maintain their five-member family.

Mogholhat Union Parishad Chairman Habibur Rahman said most of the Aman and vegetable fields have been damaged by flood, creating job crisis for the farm labourers.