Heavy rain is falling in Cherrapunji in India, upstream of Netrokona, and the water is coming down the district's rivers as hill runoff. For fear of an untimely flood, the local Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) has advised farmers to cut the ripe paddy in the haors quickly.

On the afternoon of Wednesday, 22 April, Md Sakhawat Hossain, executive engineer of the BWDB in Netrokona, said it is risky to leave paddy in haor fields once 80 per cent of it has ripened. There had already been heavy rain in Netrokona, and rainwater was still standing in the low parts of the haors. If upstream runoff came down now, the water would rise further, so farmers had been advised to cut the ripe paddy quickly.

The BWDB said rain has been falling in Netrokona since the start of the Bengali month of Chaitra this year, and excessive rain has caused waterlogging in various haors. When it rains upstream, hill water comes down into Netrokona and the Someshwari, Kangsha, Dhanu, Ubdakhali and other rivers rise, so an untimely flood could hit the haor area at any time and damage crops.

Rain over the past two weeks has raised the Kangsha, Ubdakhali, Dhanu and several other rivers in Netrokona. From Tuesday morning to 1pm on Wednesday, the Dhanu at Khaliajuri rose by about 2 feet, leaving local farmers worried about the maturing Boro crop. Crops grown on about 42,000 hectares in Netrokona's haor area have a market value of about Tk 700 crore.

Md Delowar Hossain, Khaliajuri upazila agriculture officer, said paddy had been planted on 20,232 hectares in the upazila, with a target of 148,000 tonnes. Harvesting had begun in full this week. "We advised farmers to plant early varieties, but many plant fewer early varieties in the hope of higher yields," he said.

Nadir Hossain Shamim, upazila nirbahi officer (UNO) of Khaliajuri, said the Dhanu had risen somewhat and rainwater had collected in some low-lying fields. Farmers have been advised to cut the ripe haor paddy quickly.

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