Rainwater has submerged farmers' golden paddy in various haors of Sunamganj. Farmers are in tears as the paddy they worked hard for goes under before their eyes. Many are cutting half-ripe paddy from under the water and taking it home. The agriculture department says paddy worth nearly Tk 1 crore has already gone under.

Half-ripe golden paddy now fills the haors of Sunamganj, only days from being cut and stored. But this half-ripe crop has left haor farmers caught both ways: at times they fear early flash floods, at times hailstorms. To these fears has now been added waterlogging in the haors, which has so far submerged 60 hectares of boro. Left with no choice, farmers are cutting the half-ripe paddy early and taking it home.

Yusuf Ali is a farmer in Madhupur village of Mollapara union in Sunamganj Sadar upazila. He borrowed money at high interest from a moneylender to grow boro on 20 acres. The paddy was due to be brought home in a few days, but three days of rain submerged it. So he is wading into waist-deep water to cut the half-ripe paddy and take it home.

"My dream crop has gone under the rainwater. I have been left with nothing. I am worried about how I will look after my children and repay the loan," Yusuf Ali said.

Boro has been grown in 137 haors of Sunamganj this season, and Dekhar haor is one of the largest. More than a lakh farmers from four upazilas, including Sunamganj Sadar, Shantiganj, Chhatak and Dowarabazar, have 24,000 hectares of land in this haor. But the rain of the past few days submerged the paddy of several hundred farmers in seven villages of Mollapara union in Sunamganj Sadar upazila, including Dariyabaj, Kalaura, Ichhagari, Hurmat Nagar, Rauyarpar, Guarchhara and Haripur. With no other option, some are cutting the paddy from under the water and bringing it by boat to dry ground, while others are threshing it by machine.

Haor farmers said: "We grew the crop with great effort, but before it could fully ripen, rainwater caused waterlogging in the haor and the paddy went under. Now we are somehow lifting this paddy from under the water as feed for our cattle."

The deputy director of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in Sunamganj said steps were being taken to drain the waterlogging in Dekhar haor, and that a list of farmers whose crops were submerged would be prepared and sent to higher authorities.

This year a boro target of 13,70,270 tonnes has been set for Sunamganj district, but about 350 tonnes of paddy has already gone under water, with a market value of nearly Tk 1 crore.

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