Early rains play havoc with standing boro, other crops [ Tritiyo Matra News ]

Early rains play havoc with standing boro, other crops

Local April 26, 2017

Heavy early rains this year destroyed the standing boro and other crops across the country, said farmers.
Had the rains begun a fortnight later farmers could take home bumper crops, said agricultural officials.
Beginning early this month heavy rains submerged vast crop fields in 56 districts damaging or destroying standing boro and vegetable crops besides ground nut, maize, water melons and other seasonal fruits, according to the Department of Agricultural Extension.
Boro being the principal source of the nation’s cereal supplies its destruction in massive scale would affect food security in the current year, fear agricultural economists.
Boro fields in the northern districts, particularly the fertile Chalanbil valley in Natore remained submerged since the thumping rains began early this month.
Fed by torrential rains the Atrai River began to overflow submerging its banks in Shingra upazila, Natore.
Shingra UNO Nazmul Ahsan told New Age Tuesday night that worried over the Atrai in spate farmers in the area began reaping their boro crop ahead of the schedule.
Farmers action was prompted by fears that everything would be washed away by flood waters.
DAE officials said that they were not calculating the crop losses caused by the country wide rains.
They said that agriculture minister was discouraging preparation of any report of crop losses caused by rains.
DAE director general Manjurul Hannan told New Age Tuesday that the early rains brought disastrous consequences for the country’s agriculture.
Had the rains occurred 15 days later the frequency of the flash floods, inundation elsewhere and the resultant losses would be much less, he said.
According to a report sent to the agriculture ministry by the DAE, about five lakh boro farmers in the haor belt of Sylhet, Moulavibazar, Sunamganj, Habiganj, Netrokona and Kishoreganj suffered severe losses as boro crop on two lakh hectares had been destroyed by flashfloods .
According to the report, almost six lakh tonnes of husked rice worth Tk 1920 crore had been destroyed in the six districts.
This year farmers grew boro crop on 47.97 lakh hectares expecting to get 1.92 crore tonnes of husked rice, says the report.
Vast boro fields in Brahmanbaria, Natore, Sariakandi, Gaibndha and Mymensingh have also been submerged, said DAE officials.
The rainfall in April, show the Met Office reports, was 119 per cent in excess of normal precipitation for the month.
Bangladesh Agricultural University professor of agricultural finance ASM Golam Hafeez told New Age that the early rains devastated the boro crop, the largest cereal supply source for Bangladesh.
He said that the haor belt suffered serious losses to standing boro crop as did the rest of the country.