Lal Mia is a farmer in Sunamganj's Dekhar haor. He grew boro rice on 30 bighas, but half of it has been submerged by rainwater. He is trying desperately to bring home the other half, but without a boat he cannot manage even that. He first tried hauling the cut paddy on a tarpaulin, but failed.

Lal Mia said that with no other way out, he borrowed money at interest from a moneylender and went to buy a boat. "When I got there, I found boat prices sky-high. In the end I had no choice but to pay Tk 8,500 for a boat that costs Tk 5,000."

Farmer Rajab Mia, who also came to buy a boat, described the same hardship. "Boats are very expensive, so instead of buying a boat I am buying a tarpaulin to take back. What else can I do? I will bring home as much paddy as I can."

Across the haors, a shortage of boats and their sky-high prices have become a new source of misery for farmers trying to bring in boro paddy submerged by waterlogging after heavy rain.

According to the agriculture department, boro rice was grown on 223,511 hectares in the district this season, and about 47 per cent has already been harvested. But after several days of continuous rain, paddy on 7,000 hectares in various haors was hit by waterlogging, of which paddy on 3,000 hectares has been completely ruined. At field level, however, the damage is even greater.

Boat sellers in Maijbari village on the outskirts of Sunamganj town said about 500 boats have been sold there in the past two weeks. Demand is so high that sellers cannot supply them on time.

Hasunar Mia, a farmer who came to buy a boat, said: "I have to buy a boat because the paddy in the haor has gone under water, and it is not possible to bring paddy out of the haor now without one. But with demand for boats up in the haor right now, prices have suddenly been raised too."

A farmer named Monir Mia said: "We have lost everything. Even so, we are trying to bring in what has not yet gone completely under in the haor. But with the water high we now need a boat, so I have come to buy one."

Asad, a farmer in Shanir haor, said that without a boat he has to haul paddy to the edge on a tarpaulin, which takes more people and more time.

Omar Faruk, deputy director of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in Sunamganj, said 75 per cent of the paddy in the haors has already been harvested. But with water still in the haors, demand for boats has risen sharply, and it is hard to cut this paddy and bring it home without a boat.

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