Sylhet Bureau :
Farmers have harvested Boro paddy early as they feared flash flood may damage ripening paddy, officials of Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) said.
Although flash flood inundated some areas of haor region, no significant damage took place on crop lands, particularly Boro paddy, they said adding, onrush of water from upstream region of India entered haor areas in Sunamganj district in the current season.
Around 13,12,500 tonnes of Boro, more than their estimated target, were harvested this season in Sunamganj.
In April 2017, flash floods in Sylhet region washed away Boro paddy before those could be harvested. Farmers in Sunamganj were the worst affected by the floods that year.
According to DAE, Boro has been cultivated on 2,24,440 hectares of land in the district this year and the figure is 2 thousand hectares higher than the previous year. Farmer Abdul Hakim from Kotamara village in Jamalganj said, ‘We reaped a good harvest this year despite fear of flash floods and rains triggered by the cyclone.’
However, the selling price of paddy is not satisfactory, considering the additional cost they had to incur due to shortage of labourers, he added.
Meanwhile, our Moulvibazar correspondent reports that a handful of farmers, who could not manage to harvest all their crops in Hakaluki haor before the Cyclone Fani lashed out on the country, are working in full swing to harvest the remainder of their crops before the floods hit the area.
Ranendra Shankar Chakraborty, Executive Engineer of Water Development Board (WDB) in Moulvibazar, told this correspondent that low-lying areas in haors are getting submerged as water level in the Kushiyara river is rising every day. maize WDB has been advising farmers to harvest their crops from the area to minimise losses due to the imminent floods, he also said. Mohammad Shahjahan, additional director of DAE in Sylhet division, said Boro production in the region is expected to reach 19 lakh tonnes this year. The production last year was 18.5 lakh tonnes.
Harvesting of paddy in haor areas of four districts under Sylhet division is in its final stage and so far, more than 85 percent of paddy has already been harvested, he said, adding that DAE has been making announcements over loudspeakers, asking farmers to harvest their paddy as soon as possible.
BSS from Narail adds: Cultivation of Boro paddy in three upazilas of Narail district has surpassed its target this season due to favourable climate condition and adequate supply of high quality seed.
Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) official sources said, the department has set a target to cultivate Boro paddy on 44,580 hectares of land in the Sadar, Lohagora and Kalia upazilas of the district with the production target of 1,94,405 tonnes of clean rice this season. But farmers of the district have cultivated 2,060 hectares more land then the target.
Favorable climatic condition, proper distribution of high quality seed of BADC and timely supply of electricity, fertilizers and other agri inputs to the growers are the main reasons behind the expectation, said an official of DAE.
To make the cultivation programme a grand success and to bring all arable land under this programme, the commercial banks including Bangladesh Krishi Bank disbursed soft loan to the poor and the marginal farmers during the season.
While visiting some areas of the district this correspondent found that the Boro paddy has started ripening and the paddy gives the farmers a symptom
of desired output.
Deputy Director (DD) of DAE, Chinmoy Roy said to make the Boro cultivation a grand success, necessary measures had been taken to supply fertilizers, insecticides and other agri inputs to the farmers at fair prices.
District agricultural training officer Md. Nazrul Islam said, to end the cultivation, coordinated efforts have been taken by all concerned departments and organisations in popularizing the latest agriculture technologies among the farmers to make the Boro farming programme successful.
