Rains trigger fear of loss among farmers in north
Vast swathes of cropland in the northern districts have been affected due to water-logging caused by rainfall that lasted from Friday morning until early the next day, with farmers apprehending losses.
The heavy precipitation laid low full-grown fields of mustard plants, potatoes and maize while vegetable trellises also collapsed due to strong gusts in Bogura, Joypurhat, Gaibandha, Pabna and Dinajpur.
During a visit to the Biral and sadar upazilas of Dinajpur, correspondents found numerous farmers toiling away to drain excess water from their lands.
Akil Chandra Roy, a farmer of Maljhar village in Biral upazila who cultivated potatoes on two bighas of land this year, said he planned to harvest the tuber crop once they had matured after a couple of days.
However, the recent rain has left Akil's hopes hanging by a thread as he was seen busy draining stagnant water from his field on Saturday.
"The potatoes will go rotten if the water is not removed on time," he said.
As such, production would decline by at least 10 per cent if it rains again.
Besides, this concern comes as a double blow for potato growers, who already suffered massive losses due to the prevailing low market price for their crops.
The situation is similar in neighbouring districts as whole fields have gone underwater.
Abdul Mannan Moldol, a farmer of Satar village under Joypurhat's Kalai upazila, said he and his brothers could lose potatoes cultivated on 25 bighas of land this season if the water was not drained on time.
"We spent Tk 20,000 to Tk 25,000 to cultivate each bigha," he added.
Md Khaja Mia, a farmer of Milkipur village under Bogura's Shibganj upazila, said half of the potato plants he grew on seven bighas of land could be lost due to rain this year.
In Gaibandha's Gobindaganj upazila, Joynal Ahmed of Baneshsor village said he has already spent Tk 45,000 to grow potatoes on three bighas of land.
"But I cannot recover more than 50 per cent of my investment as I cannot harvest crops that are submerged," he added.
Saiful Islam, a farmer of the same village, said he cannot store the potatoes harvested from wet fields as they would rot in cold storage.
"So, I will have to sell them in a hurry at cheap prices, and count huge losses as a result," he added.
On being contacted, Md Anamul Haque, additional deputy director of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in Bogura, said farmers in the district cultivated potato on 57,515 hectares of land this year.
"About 26 per cent of the potatoes have already been harvested but we cannot be sure to what extent the recent rain has damaged these crops," he added.
Likewise, Md Belal Uddin, deputy director of the DAE in Gaibandha, said farmers in the region have so far harvested potatoes from about 100 hectares of the 1,000 hectares cultivated this season.
"Most of these potatoes are already mature so if the farmers drain the water on time, they will remain undamaged," Uddin added.
Growers of other crops in the region are suffering the same fate.
Altaf Hossain of Maljhar village in Dinajpur said he cultivated mustard on seven decimals of land this year but the plants have suffered a beating by the heavy wind and rain.
In addition, Altaf's maize field remains underwater.
Monjurul Haque, deputy director of the DAE in Dinajpur, said farmers would be able to avert losses if they were able to clear the stagnant water as soon as possible.
The situation is similar in all five upazilas of Joypurhat, where farmers were seen attempting all means possible to remove the water.
Some were draining the water simply with dishes while others were seen picking potatoes. Similar scenes were prevalent in different areas of Joypurhat's sadar, Khetlal and Kalai upazilas on Saturday.
Rafiqul Islam, a potato farmer of Binshira village in Khetlal, said his entire field had gone under water and there was no way to fix it.
He went on to say that potato prices have been low since last season, when he suffered losses of Tk 2,000 per bigha.
"There is no respite from losses," Rafiqul added.
According to the DAE in Joypurhat, potatoes are being produced on 40,350 hectares of land in the district this year.
Shafiqul Islam, deputy director of the DAE, said some potatoes have already been picked from the field. However, farmers are making arrangements to drain the stagnant water as soon as possible.
"If the water is removed quickly and there is no rain ahead, there will not be much more damage," Islam added.
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