Irri-boro farmers in north worried at power outages

Farmers irrigate their Boro field through a diesel-run shallow tube-well at Karia Kalanda village under Baliadanga upazila of Thakurgaon as the nearby deep tube-well lies inoperative for lack of power supply, right, farmers at Kanaibari village in Biral upazila of Dinajpur replace the power-driven water pump with the diesel-run one due to uncertainty of power supply.Photo: STAR

Irri-boro cultivation in eight districts under Rangpur division is suffering as large areas of land cannot be irrigated properly due to shortage of electricity supply during the peak sowing season.
Many paddy fields are drying up due to the situation while a good number of farmers are yet to start sowing the paddy for the same reason, reports a Rangpur correspondent.
The Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) has fixed a target of producing 30,88,559 tonnes of Irri-boro rice from 7,75,284 hectares of land in eight districts under Rangpur Agriculture Zone this season, said Khondker Md Mesbahul Islam, an agriculturist of DAE Rangpur divisional office.
District-wise, the target is 1,30,184 hectares in Rangpur, 1,20,154 hectares in Gaibandha, 1,1,06753 hectares in Kurigram, 55,282 hectares in Lalmonirhat, 78,112 hectares in Nilphamari, 1,72,449 hectares in Dinajpur, 67,554 hectares in Thakurgaon and 44,796 hectares in Panchagarh.
The number of irrigation pumps has increased to 3,01,631 this cultivation season from last season's 2,78,081 in the 'crop cultivation zone' of Rangpur division, DAE officials said.
But in absence of adequate power supply, the machines have remained mostly unutilised.
Masud Al Faruque, Power Development Board (PDB) chief engineer of Rangpur Distribution Zone comprising the eight districts, admitted shortage of power supply.
Only 140 to 150MW of electricity can be supplied against the demand of 350MW from 7:00am to 5:00pm, 240 to 260Mw against the demand of 340 to 350MW from 5:00pm to 11:00pm, 200MW against the demand of 330MW to 350MW from 11:00pm 7:00am, he said.
A few PDB officials expressed apprehension that the power outage will take a serious turn when the peak period of irrigation begins within a short time.
Meanwhile, frequent load shedding accompanied by fluctuation and low-voltage of electricity is causing damage to the irrigation machines.
On the other hand, many farmers are irrigating their boro fields with the help of the diesel run shallow machines but it adds to their cost.
Our Thakurgaon Crrespondent adds: Cracks started developing in dried up Irri-boro fields on hundreds of acres of land in different areas of Thakurgaon and Panchagarh districts for want of irrigation as power-run deep tube-wells and shallow machines cannot be run properly due to erratic power supply.
It has also worried farmers fearing losses as the expenditure will be shooting up for use costly diesel-run pumps instead of electricity-run deep tube wells and shallows for irrigation activities.
In Thakurgoan, the DAE has fixed a target to cultivate Irri-Boro on 67,554 hectares of land and farmers have already cultivated Irri-Boro on 59,375 hectares of land against the target.
In Pachagarh, farmers have cultivated Irri-boro on 34,200 hectares of land till Thursday against the target of 44,796 hectares of land. The cultivation usually runs till mid-March.
Irrigation on about fifty percent of land of Irri-boro cultivation depends on power-run deep tube-wells and shallow machines in these districts, according to DAE officials in Thakurgaon and Panchagarh and Barind Multipurpose Development Authority.
During a visit to different villages in the two districts on Thursday and Friday, this correspondent saw some farmers setting diesel-run shallow machines at different villages beside the electricity run deep tube-wells to meet up irrigation on boro fields for saving the plants.
However, many cannot think of using diesel-run shallow machines due to high price of diesel.
Our Dinajpur Correspon-dent reports: Farmers in the 'rice production zone' of the district are leaning towards diesel-run shallow machines for irrigation as the power supply is too inadequate to run the electricity-run machines.
Besides adding to the cultivation cost, it is causing the farmers a lot of troubles.
During a visit to Kanaibari area under Biral upazila of Dinajpur, this correspondent saw farmer Md Nazimuddin replacing his power-run water pump by a diesel-run shallow engine as interruption to irrigation caused by frequent load shedding started affecting his boro land badly.
"We are getting smooth supply of electricity only three to four hours a day but at least 10 hours of power supply is needed to manage irrigation in my boro land," said Nazimuddin, who cultivated boro on seven acres of land this season.
Several farmers of the area said they would require additional Tk 2,000 per acre if they continue irrigation with diesel-run shallow engines.