A festival of cutting ripe paddy was under way in the haors of Sunamganj on the first day of Baishakh. Farmers headed to the fields with their families as the sun came up and spent the whole day busy cutting golden paddy.

Ustar Ali farms in Karchar haor in Bishwambharpur upazila of Sunamganj. He borrowed money at high interest from a moneylender to grow boro paddy on five acres. The crop was a bumper one, but he had been deeply worried about getting it home. Those worries behind him, on the first day of Baishakh he cut and threshed the paddy he had dreamed of and was drying it in the fierce sun, his face full of joy at the good yield and harvest.

Ustar Ali said: "I spent Tk 20,000 growing boro paddy in the haor. There has been a bumper yield. I even hope to be able to sell 60 maunds of paddy this year."

Thanks to favourable weather, boro yields have been bumper this year in Sunamganj's 137 haors. On the first day of Baishakh, more than a lakh farmers in 30 haors of the area went down to the fields at sunrise with gamchhas wrapped around their heads. While the men cut the paddy, women dried it in the sun, and others bagged it for storage.

Farmers said they were happy to bring home the golden paddy they had grown with such effort on the first day of Baishakh; their Baishakh revolves around the haor. Amir Uddin, a farmer in Karchar haor, told Jago News: "There has been a bumper yield this year. I hope to sell this paddy and get through the year with my children."

Another farmer, Ruhul Mia, told Jago News that he had been really worried about getting the paddy home when the storms and rain started. "But now the weather is good and the paddy is ripe, so I have gone to the fields with my whole family to cut paddy on the first day of Baishakh," he said.

According to the agriculture department, farmers grew boro on 2,23,245 hectares in Sunamganj this season, which is expected to produce 13,70,202 tonnes of paddy this year, with a market value of Tk 4,110 crore.

Bimal Chandra Som, deputy director of the agriculture department in Sunamganj, told Jago News: "Emergency control rooms have already been opened in various upazilas to help farmers bring in their paddy and to deal with disasters. We are advising farmers from the field."

Also this season, waterlogging caused by rain in Dekhar haor submerged 60 hectares of farmers' boro paddy, with a market value of nearly Tk 1 crore.

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