Farming After Floods: Battered, they keep on trying

Abdus Samad could not harvest a single grain of coriander (dhoney) or sesame (til) or an ounce of jute from his five bighas of land due to this year's prolonged flood.

The 65-year-old farmer in Khanurbari village of Tangail's Bhuapur upazila also did not get any government assistance or flood rehabilitation support.

Yet Samad, a father of four, continued the battle for survival and has started cultivating fresh crops after the floodwater receded from his fields on the bank of the Jamuna river.

Samad was seen preparing his fields to cultivate peanut with his wife and other family members joining hands with him.

"No matter the government helps me or not, I can't sit idle. I have to earn for my family," Samad told this correspondent, who recently visited Khanurbari village.

Displaced by the erosion of the Jamuna a decade ago, Samad now lives on others' land. He said he has taken loan from a bank to cultivate peanut and different kinds of pulses on his farmland.

"I have to engage my family members in the cultivation as I can't afford to pay labourers. I have to start paying instalments of loan," he said.

Samad is not alone. Many farmers in char areas of the Jamuna under the worst-affected Bhuapur upazila are facing similar financial hardship due to the prolonged floods.

During the visit to the char areas, including in Gabsara, Arjuna, Nikrail and Govindasi, this correspondent saw many farmers along with their family cultivating different Robi crops like peanut, vegetables and pulses.

This year, floods have badly affected 11 out of 12 upazilas of Tangail.

A vast area in the region was inundated by floodwater in three phases from July to September, damaging crops, fruits and vegetables worth crores of taka. Most of the affected farmers had cultivated crops after taking loans from banks, NGOs, and moneylenders.

Farmer Jinnat Ali of Dhitpur village in Tangail Sadar upazila farmed sugarcane on his three and a half bighas of land, but flood damaged it completely.

"I had to spend Tk 70,000 on the sugarcane farming. I expected I could earn Tk 2 lakh from the farming. But the flood destroyed my hope."

Jinnat said he did not get any support from the government and borrowed money from others to cultivate Aman paddy on the land after the floodwater receded.

The flood this year lasted for 61 days from July 27 to September 30, the second longest spell since 1988, according to meteorological office data.

Some 1,07,193 farmers in Tangail incurred a loss of Tk 141 crore due to damage of their crops and vegetables in the floods this year, according to the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in the district.

DAE officials said 18,126 hectares of cropland were inundated in the flood. Of these, crops on 13,292 hectares were fully damaged.

The agriculture department started giving incentives to the flood-affected farmers after floodwater began to recede in September.

Only 12,000 out of 1,07,193 affected farmers in the district have got the government support of seeds and fertiliser, according to DAE officials.

More than 95,000 farmers were out of the government support coverage in the first phase.

Asked about the matter, Ahsanul Bashar, deputy director of DAE in Tangail, told The Daily Star that the affected farmers in the district have already started turning around as the present farmer-friendly government has been providing them with necessary support.

The government support for rehabilitation as well as incentive to the affected farmers for different crops cultivation continues, he said.

"Under the programmes, over 1.7 lakh farmers, including the flood-affected ones, are getting the government support. Of them, around 34,000 farmers have already got the help for mustard cultivation, while each of the 55,000 farmers are getting 2kg of hybrid Boro paddy seeds," he said.