Milon Bepari, 64, is a big farmer in his village. This year he grew boro on 50 acres, spread across Ratir haor, Pangasia, Anchutala, Banjail, Amgachtala and Tellar haor. Had the crop come home, he would have had about 5,000 maunds of paddy. But more than half has gone under water. As far as the eye can see there is only water, though just a week ago the haor was covered in golden paddy. Now Milon Bepari can only stare at his submerged crop.

"Just a few more days and it would have been fine," he said. "But the water from upstream has drowned everything. The paddy under water can't be cut any more. It's all rotting. Now people are cutting all the fields and taking it away under nayanbhaga! How will I repay my debts and how will the year pass?"

Milon Bepari lives in Jagannathpur village of Khaliajuri upazila in Netrokona. The situation of Musko Kha, Suleman Mia (42) and Rajib Mia (25) of the same village is even worse.

Musko Kha has seven people in his family. He farmed three acres this year, but the upstream flood took all of it. He said he would have got about 300 maunds of paddy had he harvested it all; now he has not been able to bring home even a handful. He cannot sleep for worrying how he will support his family of seven, including his mother of about a hundred, his wife and four daughters. People are cutting all the paddy and taking it away under nayanbhaga.

Nayanbhaga is a common word in the haors. People living by the haors say it is a custom of the region: in disaster conditions, when harvesting becomes difficult, labourers cut paddy from the owner's field and take it away, while the owner can only look on. That is what is called nayanbhaga, and farmers see it every few years.

Aminul Islam, deputy director of the district Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), said boro was grown on 185,547 hectares in the district this year, with a target of 1,321,732 tonnes. Of this, the haor area of 41,065 hectares had a target of 292,590 tonnes.

Acting Deputy Commissioner Ariful Islam Sardar said that by Sunday afternoon, 3 May, paddy on 22,000 hectares in the district had gone under water, affecting 70,000 farmers. According to preliminary information, crops worth Tk 313 crore in total have been lost.

Local farmers, however, say three times the officially reported area has been submerged. This year 138 km of embankments were built at a cost of Tk 31 crore to protect haor crops, and because of them, hill flash-flood water has not entered the fields so far.

Wasim Mia, a farmer from Jagannathpur, said: "The crops submerged in the haor went under in rainwater. Most of the haor's sluice gates are out of order, and canals, ditches and rivers have silted up, so the rainwater could not drain away. That is why our crops sank and this disaster happened. Half the paddy in the haor is still to be cut, and we have not been able to dry straw for our cattle."

Khaliajuri Upazila Agriculture Officer Md Delwar Hossain said: "High-yielding BRRI dhan88, BRRI dhan89 and BRRI dhan92 are mostly grown on 20,332 hectares in the upazila. Up to yesterday, 52 per cent of the fields had been harvested. Paddy on 4,985 hectares is under water. If the water rises, the damage will increase."

Madan Upazila Agriculture Officer Mizanur Rahman said boro was grown on 17,650 hectares in the upazila, of which paddy on 760 hectares has gone under water, though 68 per cent of the fields have been harvested so far.

Kalmakanda Upazila Agriculture Officer Saiful Islam said paddy on 1,950 hectares in his upazila has gone under water so far.

Md Sakhawat Hossain, executive engineer of the district Water Development Board, said all the embankments in the haor are still intact. Every step has been taken to stop them breaking, and monitoring has been increased.

Deputy Commissioner Khandaker Mushfiqur Rahman said flood water has not yet reached the haor. The water that submerged the paddy is rainwater with no way out, and the problem has arisen because the haor's ditches, canals and rivers have filled with silt.

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