Three days of continuous rain and hill runoff have disrupted life in Mirsharai, Chattogram. Aman seedbeds and vegetables have been damaged, low-income people are struggling without work, and traders are frustrated by falling sales.

The continuous rain over the past three days has flooded low-lying parts of the upazila. In many areas water has entered homes and caused waterlogging. In many places aman seedbeds have been submerged and vegetable fields destroyed.

Local farmers say the rain of the past few days has kept them from working in their fields, and they are running their households on borrowed money. Sales have also fallen sharply since July, and the continuous rain has made farming conditions all around even worse.

Ala Uddin, a farmer in the Wahedpur area, said: "I made an aman seedbed on 6 decimals of land. The hill runoff submerged everything. If I make a new seedbed, the planting time will pass. I do not know what to do."

Summer watermelon grower Iqbal Hossain said: "The continuous rain is doing a lot of damage to watermelons. This is the right time to sell the crop, but the rain is making harvesting difficult, and prices are falling."

Mirsharai upazila agriculture officer Pratap Chandra Roy said the continuous rain this season was causing farmers heavy losses. About 15 hectares of aman seedbeds and 10 hectares of vegetables have been destroyed, and the damage could rise further if the rain does not ease.

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