Miscreants have cut down 400 bottle gourd plants grown by poor farmer Uttam Das on 33 decimals of land in Mirsarai, Chattogram. The incident happened on the night of 7 September in the Boro Takia Bhuiyanpara area of the upazila. The farmer, who grew the gourds on 33 decimals with borrowed money, is now at his wits' end.

Young gourds were hanging from every one of the 400 plants on his 33-decimal plot. In a few days they would have sold in the market for several lakh taka.

"I spent Tk 1,20,000 on growing gourds this time. If I could have sold them properly, I would have recovered the cost and made several lakh more in profit. I farmed on a loan and thought I would repay it by selling the gourds. Now that all the plants have been cut, I don't know how I will repay it. I have no enmity with anyone like that. Who would kick me in the stomach like this?" said Uttam Das.

Local resident Mosharaf Hossain said that living in a community, people can have disagreements, but cutting down someone's crops like this is unacceptable.

Mirsarai upazila agriculture officer Pratap Chandra Roy said, "I did not know about the gourd plants being cut down in Boro Takia. I have just heard it from you. I am sending the sub-assistant agriculture officer to find out."

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