Only days ago the Padma chars were green. Farmers were busy tending plots of pointed gourd, cucumber, bitter gourd, bottle gourd, cauliflower and tomato.

Now the water stands waist-deep in places, and elsewhere the seedlings have rotted.

As a last resort some farmers are pumping the water off to dry their plots; others are pulling out the rotted plants.

The loss came before the expected yield or harvest, leaving char farmers of Pabna upazila in Rajshahi deeply worried.

Vegetables grow fast in the sandy char soil, so cultivation here is intensive all year; but once water rises there is no drainage.

Winter vegetable seedlings go in at exactly this time, so the damage will be felt in next season's supply as well.

Source: BSS