All balumhals and toll stations in Sunamganj have been announced to be closed to deal with the labor crisis of harvesting paddy in Hawar.
Photo Collected
All balumhals and toll stations have been announced closed to deal with the labor crisis in Sunamganj’s Howre Boro paddy harvesters. From 20th to 30th April, sand lifting and transportation will be stopped in all the Balumhals of the district and at the same time the operations of customs stations will also be closed.
On Sunday afternoon, a notice signed by the Revenue Deputy Collector (RDC) of Sunamganj informed about the closure of Balumhal. Apart from this, President of Tahirpur Coal Importers Association Mohammad Khasrul Alam has confirmed the closure of three customs stations on the border of Tahirpur Upazila.
Earlier on Saturday afternoon, it was announced to stop the extraction and transportation of sand in Jadukata river, the big sandy area of the district. Under the guidance of BNP Member of Parliament Kamruzzaman Kamrul in Sunamganj-1 Constituency, this initiative was taken to close Jadukata River and customs station.
Harvesting of boro paddy has started in Haor of Sunamganj. However, rainwater has accumulated in many places. Due to which there is a problem in harvesting paddy with combine harvester. Machines cannot be used due to water in many places. There is also a shortage of rice harvesting workers. In order to deal with these issues and to provide sufficient labor for the convenience of the farmers, it has been announced that sand extraction and transport of sand, soil and mixed sand from other places in all the sand pits of the district has been stopped.
Farmers said that many paddies of Haor have been submerged in water. Farmers have tried to drain the water by cutting dams to protect the crops of several haors in the district. Again, they tried to drain the water by installing pumps on their own initiative. Once upon a time, laborers used to harvest rice from different parts of the country. There were also local workers. The arrival of foreign workers has decreased day by day. Again, as the rice harvester was introduced, the local workers no longer cut rice as before.
Abdul Qayyum, a farmer of Ichagari village in Sadar upazila’s Haorpad, said, “Now there is no way without machines. The amount of paddy that can be cut and threshed in one day by one machine is not possible with 100 workers.
According to the sources of the District Agriculture Extension Directorate, 2 lakh 23 thousand 511 hectares of land have been cultivated in 137 haors of Sunamganj. Out of this, 1 lakh 65 thousand 275 hectares are in the deep part of Haor and 58 thousand 236 hectares in relatively higher parts without Haor. The production target of paddy is about 14 lakh metric tons.
According to the Agriculture Department, there are 577 combine harvesters in operation for harvesting paddy in Sunamganj. Apart from this there are 108 harvesters which can be put into use if renovated. Owners and companies have been instructed to activate the devices. There are 146 Reapers. This time, it has been determined that machine owners will charge 1 thousand 900 taka for harvesting and threshing paddy of one bigha (33 centuries) of land with a harvester. No machine owner can charge more than this from farmers.
Mohammad Omar Farooq, Deputy Director of District Agriculture Extension Department, said that there will be a problem to cut paddy with machines in areas where there is more water. If there is 8 to 10 inches of water it is possible to harvest rice by machine.
Source: Prothom Alo Bangla
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