Two days of rough weather and rain have disrupted boro paddy harvesting and threshing in Moulvibazar, leaving farmers worried about bringing their ripe paddy home. If the rain continues, waterlogging and an early flood are feared in the district's low-lying areas, increasing the risk of crops being ruined before they are cut.

Boro farmers said they have been harvesting from Hakaluki, Kawadighi, Hail haor and other haors since the start of Baishakh. But for the past two days the bad weather has held up harvesting and threshing, with nor'wester storms, lightning and rain. Those who have finished cutting cannot thresh or sun-dry their paddy, and the rain is also keeping them from cutting the ripe paddy still in the fields.

According to the district office of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), boro paddy was grown on 62,400 hectares in the district this season. About 77 per cent of the paddy in the haor areas has already been harvested, though the unfavourable weather is causing farmers some difficulty.

Rois Mia, a farmer in Alinagar union of Kamalganj, said: "I grew boro on 50 decimals of land at a cost of about Tk 16,000-17,000. The paddy has not turned out very well. I am having it cut with three workers. Because the weather is bad, we have to cut the paddy standing in water."

Nazrul Islam, a farmer in Kawadighi haor, said: "Despite the bad weather I have come to the haor today to cut paddy. It has been raining since yesterday; if the water in the haor rises, cutting will not be possible. I grew this paddy with great effort, and now at harvest time the weather has turned against us."

Md Jalal Uddin, deputy director of the DAE in Moulvibazar, said about 77 per cent of the paddy in the haor areas had been cut. "Seeing the weather forecast, we have been telling farmers for several days to harvest quickly. Unless there is excessive rain, farmers will not suffer much loss," he said. The harvest in the haors of Kulaura, Barlekha and Juri upazilas in particular was almost finished, while some cutting remained in other upazilas, he said.

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