Anisul Islam Noor :
The agriculture sector incurred losses of Tk 150 crore in 14 districts of the country due to the ongoing flood that had washed away fish and cropland measuring 1, 13,500 hectares of which cropland was 109, 305 hectares, according to primary data of Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE).
The ongoing flood has caused severe damage to fisheries, livestock, vegetables and crop sectors. As per data, 20,568 fish farms on 4,195 hectares of land in 14 districts have been affected by floods.
The worst-affected district was Kurigram with 5,102 fish farms, followed by Jamalpur 4,175 farms, Sirajganj 2,978 farms, Manikganj 2,636 farms and Lalmonirhat 2,415 farms.
A total of 4,600 tonnes of fish and 671 tonnes of fish fry worth Tk 725.3 million were washed away by floods in these districts. Floods totally damaged infrastructures of a number of farms causing losses of Tk 104 million, Deputy Director of DoF Dr Md Golzar Hossain said. He said the loss might increase further in case of floodwater remaining for some more days. Chaitannya Kumar Das, Director of Monitoring under Field Service Wing of DAE, told media that 1,09,305 hectares of farmland in 22 districts remained under water for some days. Crops including Aman, Aus, seasonal vegetables, fruits and jute were inundated, he added.
Vegetables of Kharip-2 (one of three cropping seasons) like teasel gourd, ridge gourd, and sponge gourd etc might not be picked up again, he said, adding that fresh flood may hit the country at the end of August or early September.
As a precautionary measure, the DAE has instructed the farmers to prepare the seedbeds for late-Aman (Nabi) varieties like BR-22, BR-23, Brridhan-34, Binashail etc on highlands through which the farmers could recoup their losses.
Meanwhile, water level in the Brahmaputra and the Jamuna Rivers in Gaibandha, Jamalpur, Sirajganj and Bogra districts marked decline on Tuesday, but floodwater still remained there, according to the Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) offices in the districts concerned.
