News Desk :
A fall in paddy prices, compared to the previous year, has frustrated farmers in the haor region after flash floods forced them to harvest the half-grown crops.
Farmers from Kishoreganj, Jamalpur, Netrakona, Habiganj, Moulvibazar, Sylhet, Sunamganj and other districts have started bringing the yields to Ashuganj, one of the largest paddy trade hubs of the country, reports bdnews24.com.
They are also selling paddy at Bhairab Bazar in Kishoreganj on the other side of the Meghna River.
The traders are buying paddy from this Boro season, during which the crops were damaged by floods, at Tk 770 per maund, or around 37.32 kg. Coarse Hira paddy is being sold at Tk 630 to Tk 640 per maund.
The farmers said the current prices are at least Tk 100 less per maund than what they got last year.
“This will cause us losses. We cultivate paddy by borrowing money. How will we feed ourselves or repay the loans if we don’t get fair prices?” said Shamsul Islam, a farmer from Kishoreganj’s Itna.
Abdul Aziz from Brahmanbaria’s Nasirnaagar said the half-grown crops will yield less rice than usual.
Traders are also frustrated about the quality of paddy. Trader Nannu Mia of Brahmanbaria’s Sarail said: “Paddy is being sold at Tk 700 to Tk 750 per maund, down from Tk 900 to Tk 950 a year ago. This is causing a loss for both farmers and traders.”
Rabiul Haque Majumder, deputy director at the Department of Agricultural Extension in Brahmanbaria, said drought, and a lack of proper irrigation and fertilisation, besides floods, also cause a fall in production.
“But these things have not happened in all the places of Brahmanbaria,” he said, adding that some more time will be needed before commenting on rice production in the district.
Meanwhile, water has overflowed a dam at Horamondira Haor in Sunamganj’s Derai Upazila. A deluge of upstream rain has led to rising water levels in local rivers and is putting other barricades in the area at risk.
The dam, set up by the Water Development Board at Noorpur Village in Jagdal Union, was breached on Sunday night, reports bdnews24.com.
The water level on the Old Surma River rose by 33 cm on Sunday night, said Md Zahurul Islam, executive engineer of the Sunamganj Water Development Board. The rising water level has increased the water pressure in Derai and Shalla and has put several dams in the area at risk as a result, he said.
“If the barricades are breached now, we won’t be able to conduct repair work due to the current natural conditions,” he said. “There isn’t enough soil in the area to bolster the dams and we are having difficulty getting labourers for the work. Bamboo, soil and sacks are being used to shore up the barricades and we urge everyone to stay alert.”
For the past 17 days, farmers and the Sunamganj administration have been trying to save the crops grown in the district’s wetland areas from a surge in runoff from hill areas.
The water is causing dams to collapse and inundating farmland.
Dams burst in Tahirpur Upazila’s Tanguar Hoar and Gurmar Haor on Sunday, threatening crops.
Floods in early April breached a dam in Taherpur, flooding 25 hectares of paddy farmland.
Boro rice was being cultivated on 1,050 hectares of land in Horamondira Haor this season, said Sunam, said Bimal Chandra Shom, deputy director of the Sunamganj Department of Agricultural Extension.
“About 70 percent of the farmland has been harvested,” he said. “Not all of the remaining crops will be ruined if the dams break, but some will.”
He urged farmers not to wait and harvest their rice as soon as possible.
Labhlu Ahmed, chairman of Jagdal union council, said: “Under the instruction of the administration, we have been working day and night for the past 15 days at every dam alongside farmers. But the way the water levels have risen for the past three to four days means that water may get into all the haors. We are advising farmers to harvest their rice.”
