The smell of wet-rotting paddy wafted through the air of Hakaluki Hawarpar
Photo Collected
A woman named Jamila Khatun was sitting on the side of a paved road in Hakaluki Howarpar area of Juri Upazila of Moulvibazar and was cooking rice in a large dekchi (silver pan) in the stove. A lot of wet paddy is piled on the side. Jamila’s husband, a farmer Phul Mia, has grown Boro paddy on 15 bigha of land in nearby Hakaluki Haor. A few days of heavy rains and landslides caused their land to sink like others. He cut some paddy. But it could not be dried due to lack of sun. About half of the paddy has germinated. In this situation, they are trying to save wet rice by boiling it.
Jamila said while setting fire to the stove, ‘There is no sun for six or seven days, only clouds and rain or (happening). The rice has not been threshed (threshed). Wet paddy field (sprouted) is gone. The paddy is wasted in front of the market. Wet paddy should be saved by boiling it, if you can’t dry it, this too will be wasted.’
বিজ্ঞাপন
At one stage Jamila’s husband Phul Mia appeared there. Phul Mia said that Boro cultivated paddy on 15 bigha land. All land crops go under water. Of this, three bighas were in water, so it was not possible to cut rice.
Local resident school teacher Rafiqul Islam was walking along the road. He said, Haor crops have not been damaged like this in several years.
বিজ্ঞাপন
An RCC road runs from North Jangirai village to Nayagram Khalermukh Bazar bridge near Hakaluki Haor. Yesterday, Monday afternoon, the weather was better than the other days. It was sunny for a few hours in the afternoon. There are piles of wet paddy on both sides of the road. The air smelled of wet, rotting rice. Some were threshing paddy with machines and some were drying paddy on the road.
A few laborers from a paddy-laden boat in Juri river near Nyagram market were piling wet paddy on their heads by the roadside. Sufia Begum standing there said that the paddies belong to their land. Their house is in the nearby village of Bachirpur. Paddy of three bigha land in Howar drowned. He brought one bigha of paddy with laborers.
Sufia Khatun, a housewife, said, “I am planting four (four) kamalas, earlier kamalas fetched 700-800 taka (Taka) per day.” Now it takes 1 thousand teka (Taka). A boat is needed to bring rice. The rent of small boat is 1 thousand, big boat is 2 thousand taka. The paddy has become wet while still being watered. Now it will be crushed by the machine. Tikani jaiboni outau think Kariar.’
As the sun rises in the afternoon, the RCC road of Nayagram is filled with the smoke of the people drying their paddy. The women were shaking the paddy with their feet. A woman named Minara Begum said, ‘Allah blesses the day (the sun rises) by seeing the suffering of people. Ilo if there is ala for three or four days.
A small canal connected with the Juri River passes by the Khalermukh Bazar and joins the Hakaluki Haor. Raju Das, a young man from the village of Dakshin Kalanigarh, was pulling a boat loaded with paddy through that canal. After several days of rain, the unpaved road along the canal is in a muddy condition. There are piles of wet paddy on both sides of that road.
Raju said that out of 14 and a half bigha of their land in Hawar, 9 bigha of crops are under water. Despite the hostile weather, he managed to harvest 5 bighas of paddy with seven workers for four days. Raju said, ‘I am working hard. A year’s worth of rice is consumed at home. I bought something. If you calculate the cost of planting and harvesting rice, it is a lot. If you can raise the rice in the house, there is peace.
Habibur Rahman, a cattle farmer resident of North Jangirai area, blamed the late start of cultivation due to lack of irrigation as the cause of crop damage in that part of Hawar. He said that at the beginning of the Boro season, water was released through the Kanthinala branch river by constructing an earthen dam in Juri River in North Bhabanipur area of Upazila Sadar. In this, the farmers of a part of Haor get irrigation facilities. By cultivating at the right time, they can harvest the crops at home. Meanwhile, due to the late removal of the dam, paddy cultivation in this area was delayed. The harvest also comes late. Then early floods often cause crop loss.
Upazila Agriculture Officer. Mahmudul Alam Khan visited the affected areas of Howor on Monday afternoon. When met in Nayagram area, he said that 6 thousand 170 hectares of land in the upazila has been planted with Boro rice. 25 to 30 percent of Hakaluki Haor’s paddy fields have gone under water due to heavy rains and upstream hillslopes. Those who have been able to harvest paddy, cannot dry it due to lack of sun. It rains almost every day. Many people’s rice is becoming seedlings. The agriculture department is working on making a list of about 2500 affected farmers in the upazila. Proposals will be sent to higher authorities to give them incentives.
0%
0%
0%
0%
