Dense fog and cold are growing worse day by day in Kurigram. Fog that falls like rain through the night and chilly wind by day have disrupted life. Farmers are worried about boro cultivation in the bitter cold. Many are covering their seedbeds with white polythene to protect them from dew, and in this weather they do not dare to transplant seedlings to the field.

The intense cold has also made work harder. Labourers are struggling, and between tasks they burn dry straw to keep warm.

Anisur Rahman, a farmer from Bhogdanga Hindupara village in Kurigram Sadar upazila, said: "The seedlings in the seedbed are old enough for boro planting. But with so much cold and fog I cannot transplant them. Meanwhile the seedbed is also being spoiled. I have had to cover it with plastic."

Another farmer, Md Montaz Ali, said: "With this cold, I am worried about my crops. Frost has started on the potato fields and rice seedbeds in particular. Spraying is not helping. God knows what will happen."

Labourer Md Rahmat Ali said in local dialect: "It is very cold. My hands and feet feel like ice. After an hour or an hour and a half of work in the field, you cannot work any more. You have to warm yourself at a fire in between. What can I do? If I don't work, how will I get rice to eat?"

Subal Chandra, an officer at the Kurigram agro-meteorological observatory, said a temperature of 12.2 degrees Celsius was recorded in the district at 6am on 16 January. Similar temperatures would continue for the next two or three days, but a cold wave was possible at the end of the month.

Biplob Kumar Mohanta, deputy director of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in Kurigram, said the district has seedbeds on 6,500 hectares. Dense fog and bitter cold are delaying farmers' boro planting. The seedbeds have not yet started to spoil, but when the temperature stays below 13 degrees Celsius the seedlings cannot take in food and their leaves turn yellow. Farmers are being advised to take extra care and measures to save their seedbeds.

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