Boro paddy land in Habiganj is being ruined for lack of irrigation. In many places the soil is cracking and rice seedlings are turning reddish. On a lot of land farmers cannot transplant seedlings at all, and there is no end to their despair.

Large parts of the district's Baniachong, Ajmiriganj, Lakhai, Madhabpur, Nabiganj and Bahubal upazilas are surrounded by haors. Most families there depend on farming, and a large share are sharecroppers. This year boro has been grown on 1,22,575 hectares in the district, against a target of 1,22,410 hectares. Although the target was exceeded, irrigation has run short in various haors.

Several hundred acres in the haor areas of Baniachong upazila are heading for ruin. The seedlings have already turned red, and with no water on much of the land the soil will not soften, so farmers cannot transplant. Farmers blame the shortage on the lack of a steady electricity supply.

Babul Rahman Kha of Adamkhani village in Baniachong sadar told Jago News: "There is a severe water shortage. We will not be able to survive. We are in a very bad way."

Md Bablu Mia told Jago News that agriculture officers never once come to see their land. "If they had come even one day, perhaps our land would not have been ruined. Our crops have already been lost more than once."

Chhabu Mia of Kutkhani village said their land in the upazila's Ballir haor was being ruined for lack of irrigation water. "Because of power problems we do not get proper irrigation. Rivers, streams and canals have dried up too, so there is no water at all."

Abdul Aziz of Nagar village in Ajmiriganj upazila said: "Without water the soil will not soften, so we cannot plant seedlings. We hurt our hands. I do not know how rice will grow on this land."

Md Nure Alam Siddiqui, deputy director of the district Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), told Jago News that irrigation is a vital input for boro rice and they are working to ensure irrigation water for all land. However, there are some irrigation problems on relatively high land in various haors of the district, and they are trying to ensure irrigation there too, he said.

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