Early flooding and bad weather have hit the Chalan Beel and Halti Beel areas of Singra, Gurudaspur and Sadar upazilas in Natore, known as a granary, at the peak of the Boro harvest. Days of continuous rain and water coming down from upstream have made the Atrai river rise quickly, and water has begun entering the beel areas through various canals.

Farmers fear vast areas of cropland in the low-lying areas will go under. Many have been forced to cut half-ripe paddy and rush it home.

On the ground, ripe paddy stands in field after field while farmers are busy threshing and drying. With little sunshine, drying the paddy has become a serious problem. River water is entering Chalan Beel through the Jormallika, Sardanagar-Hulhulia, Katuabari, Rakhalgachha and municipal crematorium ghat canals. In places, farmers and villagers are building sandbag and earth embankments at their own expense to hold back the water. Women have joined men in the fields to cut paddy.

Abdur Rahman, a farmer from Hanspukuria village, said: "The paddy on 12 bighas of land is now at risk from the water. If I cannot cut it quickly, I will face a big loss." Another farmer, Hanif Pramanik, said labourers were not available, and those who could be found had to be paid double wages.

Local people allege that broken sluice gates and unprotected canal mouths in many areas are letting water into the beel quickly. The Katuabari and North Damdama Jolarbata sluice gate areas are at greatest risk, and residents there are dropping sandbags to hold back the water.

With everyone harvesting at once, the labour shortage has become acute. A labourer who used to cost Tk 700 a day now costs up to about Tk 1,200, more than the price of a maund of paddy, putting farmers under pressure from the extra cost.

Many villages are in the same situation, including Bilsa, Ruhai and Pipla in Gurudaspur upazila and Madhnagar, Khajuria, Kholabaria and Birkutsha in the Halti Beel area of Natore Sadar upazila. Residents fear paddy on thousands of hectares will go under if the water rises further.

Habibul Islam, deputy director of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), said Boro had been grown on more than 60,750 hectares in Natore district this season. The administration, the agriculture department and local farmers were working together to hold back the flood water. About 300 hectares of paddy had already been damaged by the early flood, but more than half of the crop had been harvested. He said the necessary steps were being taken to keep the situation under control.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.