Winter has been mild in Dinajpur this year, unlike the usual December. A little cold is felt at night, but with strong sunshine during the day it hardly feels like winter. With less cold, rabi crop production may fall, while sales of warm clothes have dropped.

Asaduzzaman, acting officer at the Dinajpur meteorological office, said that in 2021 the temperature fell to 10 degrees by mid-December. In 2022 it was between 12 and 13 degrees Celsius at the same time. In mid-December this year the temperature was 10-11 degrees Celsius, but it rose in the last ten days: 14.6 degrees was recorded on 23 December, 13.4 on 24 December and 14 degrees Celsius on 25 December.

Weather experts say the weather is changing every year and winter is arriving later. This year three major changes have been seen: winter arriving late, rain at the start of winter, and cold nights with warm days.

Akram Hussain, assistant head teacher of Musolli High School in the Rajbari area of Dinajpur, said: "The early-morning cold and fog seen in other years is not there this time."

Motiur Rahman, a farmer in Riral upazila, has grown potatoes on two and a half bighas. He said: "There is not much cold this year. The potato plants are good, but because of cold nights and hot days the potatoes are staying small. And if fog and cold suddenly increase, late blight could appear in the potato fields."

Md Anisuzzaman, additional deputy director (crops) of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in Dinajpur, said the district's rabi crop target this year is 172,881 hectares, and it will be exceeded.

DAE deputy director Md Nuruzzaman, an agriculturist, said the cold that rabi crops need has not yet set in. More cold means higher output of cold-loving rabi crops, but Dinajpur is still less cold than in previous years.

He said that with less cold, the grains or size of rabi crops become smaller, vegetables grown for seed do not flower well, and onions flower early. Overall there is a risk of lower production.

At the clothes market at Dinajpur's Gor-e-Shahid Maidan, known as the town's market for warm clothes, there was little buying or selling, and shopkeepers were idling.

Two sellers, Sumon Islam and Sunny Alam, said the winter is milder than in other years and has not really set in yet. As a result, sales are less than half of last year's, and there are hardly any buyers.

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