A sudden storm lasting only 10 minutes this week flattened banana and papaya orchards on several thousand bighas in the hilly area of Madhupur, Tangail. The day after, the upazila agriculture office gave a first figure of about 80 hectares damaged; as the field count goes on, the loss is turning out far larger. About 60 villages in Sholakuri, Aronkhola, Fulbagchala and Kuragachha unions were hit. The agriculture department's first estimate of the loss is about Tk 100 crore.
Local people say the wind snapped fruiting banana plants in the middle and uprooted others entirely. Sholakuri union council member Khokon Mia said not a single plant was left standing in any field.
Abed Ali of Gabgaichha village lost 1,700 banana plants and puts his loss at about Tk 8 lakh. In the same village Abdus Sattar lost 7,000 banana and 3,000 papaya plants, a loss he estimates at about Tk 75 lakh, and Ziaul Haque believes his 50 bighas of banana and papaya cost him about Tk 1 crore. Nur Muhammad of Horindhora village lost two bighas of papaya and five bighas of bottle gourd.
Farmers say they grew these crops on borrowed money and high-interest loans, and with everything gone in minutes they do not see how they will repay. Without quick government help, rehabilitation and interest-free loans, they say, recovery will be very hard.
Madhupur upazila agricultural extension officer ABM Khairul Islam said the department has been visiting the affected areas since the storm to assess the damage. Upazila agriculture officer Momtaz Begum said about 700 farmers lost banana, papaya and other crops; a list of farmers is being drawn up, and any government assistance will be distributed among them.
The report is by Dainik Bangla's Madhupur (Tangail) correspondent.
Photo: The Roving Rokibul / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0); an illustrative picture of a banana plantation
Source: Dainik Bangla
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