The boro harvest has begun with joy and enthusiasm in Sunamganj's haors. Being able to bring in the golden crop in the first hours of Pohela Boishakh has put smiles on farmers' faces. If the weather stays favourable, the huge quantity of paddy is expected to bring a major positive change to the district's economy.

On Tuesday (14 April), the first day of Boishakh, more than a lakh farmers went into the fields with sickles at sunrise in at least 25 haors of the district. While men cut the paddy, women were busy threshing it and drying it in the sun on the threshing floors.

With favourable weather, there has been a bumper boro yield in Sunamganj's 137 haors this year. Of these, farmers began harvesting in 25 haors on the first day of Boishakh.

Ziaul Haque, a farmer of Karchar haor, told Jago News: "I planted boro with great effort, and I can bring that paddy home on the very first day of Boishakh. I am really very happy."

Nazrul Islam, another farmer of Karchar haor, told Jago News that farmers' joy does not end with bringing the haor paddy home; the joy of bringing in the hard-grown golden paddy on the first day of Boishakh is something else.

Saju Mia, a farmer of Dekhar haor, told Jago News: "The way the rain had started, I thought we wouldn't be able to bring in the paddy this year. But at last today I am cutting the paddy with labourers and bringing it home."

Shafi Mia, another farmer of Dekhar haor, told Jago News that haor farmers weave their dreams around this paddy. Only when this hard-grown paddy can be brought home do smiles appear on the faces of the district's 10 lakh farmers, he said.

According to the district agriculture department, farmers have grown boro on 223,500 hectares in Sunamganj this season, from which 1,370,300 tonnes of paddy have been produced this year.

Omar Faruk, deputy director of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in Sunamganj, told Jago News that the haor harvest has begun and farmers are cutting paddy happily. The agriculture department is advising farmers in the field. But bringing in the paddy of the whole haor area may take until the middle of May, he said.

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