Haor Residents Face Challenging New Year
Photo Collected
SUNAMGANJ, Bangladesh – Eighty-five-year-old farmer Abdul Malek stood by the vast Dekhar Haor, despair etched on his face as he surveyed his submerged rice fields. Heavy unseasonal rains and flash floods from upstream hills have inundated 20 of his 29 bighas of Boro paddy in Bangladesh’s Sunamganj district, plunging him and his 22-member extended family into deep debt and an uncertain future.
“Just a few more days would have been enough,” Malek lamented, pointing to the waterlogged expanse from his home in Haluargaon village, Sunamganj Sadar Upazila. “The flash floodwaters have submerged everything. The rice underwater can no longer be harvested; it will all rot.” Their entire landholdings are located in Dekhar Haor, one of Sunamganj’s largest rice basins, which typically yields Boro crops across approximately 24,000 hectares.
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Of his remaining nine bighas, four had been harvested three days prior, but incessant rain prevented the paddy from being threshed and dried, leaving it piled up and vulnerable. The last five bighas, though not fully ripe, are being salvaged in a desperate attempt. Securing labor has proven difficult, with Malek hiring four workers at a daily wage of 1,000 Taka each, supplemented by his sons’ efforts. Under normal circumstances, combine harvesters would swiftly clear the fields, but widespread waterlogging has rendered them useless.
Malek had anticipated a yield of nearly 400 maunds from all his land. Now, he expects only 60 to 70 maunds from what little remains. Cultivating his fields incurred costs of approximately 200,000 Taka for labor, fertilizer, seeds, pesticides, and irrigation—an annual expenditure he typically repays by selling the harvested rice in Baisakh. This year, with his “hands almost empty,” he grapples with how to settle his debts and sustain his family.
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His 22-member joint family, including his four sons, their wives, and children, relies entirely on the haor’s rice. Beyond their own land, they cultivate additional plots under a contract that requires a non-refundable upfront payment, regardless of harvest outcomes. The rice typically covers the family’s entire annual food supply and all other expenses; this year, even providing food for his household seems impossible.
When Malek spoke on Thursday afternoon, his 18-year-old grandson, Likson Mia, was by his side. They had laid out damp rice on polythene sacks by the haor’s edge, hoping it would dry. This paddy had been stacked for three days, un-dried due to the persistent lack of sun. The preceding days were marked by “tumultuous rain, lightning, and biting cold winds,” creating a terrifying environment as rising upstream flash floods relentlessly submerged the haor. “Even as their rice fields submerged before their eyes, they were helpless,” Malek recounted.
Likson explained that their land was situated on a higher part of the haor, making them believe it would withstand the deluge. “Last Monday, we left the fields with knee-deep water,” he said. “When we returned on Tuesday morning, the haor was full of water, everything white. All the rice was submerged.”
Malek concluded, “It’s not just us; many farmers’ rice in the haor has gone underwater this time. Many are crying. Many granaries will remain empty. The disaster started right at the beginning of Baisakh. I understand that the new year will be very difficult for the people of Haor.”
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