Continuous rain and water rushing down from the hills have submerged boro paddy in Moulvibazar. Most of the district's ripe paddy is now under water, and farmers who cannot bring in their crop are in despair.

Farmers said two days of non-stop rain had flooded various areas. Paddy that had escaped the flood on the night of 28 April went under water the next morning.

According to the district office of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), boro was grown on 62,400 hectares in the district this season, 27,355 hectares of it in the haor areas. About 83 percent of the haor paddy has been cut. In non-haor areas paddy was grown on 35,000 hectares, of which 17 percent has been harvested.

Visits to several areas of Kamalganj, Rajnagar and Moulvibazar Sadar upazilas found vast stretches of cropland under rain and runoff water, with farmers in despair at being unable to bring home the crop they had worked for.

Kamal Ahmed, a farmer in Kamalganj, said: "One acre of my land went under water just as it was time to harvest. I am worried about how I will eat for the rest of the year. It is not just me; every farmer like me has had the same bad luck. Everyone is going home empty-handed. The paddy field went under before my eyes and I could do nothing."

Another farmer, Sajib Ahmed, said: "I grew the paddy with a lot of hard work. I had even taken money in advance by selling paddy at Tk 800 a maund. How will I repay it now? On one side there is the burden of debt, on the other there is no food at home. All in all, I am in a very hard situation."

Md Jalal Uddin, deputy director of the DAE in Moulvibazar, said: "So far 83 percent of the paddy has been cut in the haor areas and 17 percent in the non-haor areas. If the water drains quickly from the submerged areas, some of the paddy may be saved."

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