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Farmers in S’ganj trying to recover losses by flood

Only 20pc of affected growers gets govt incentives

Published : Thursday, 5 October, 2017 at 12:00 AM  Count : 287
Ashok Benarjee
SIRAJGANJ, Oct 4: The farmers here are trying recover from the losses they incurred by the onslaught of this year's flood.
Farmer Azad Sarker of Kanthalbaria village under Nolka union in Raiganj upazila said, "The crops of my 25-bigha land have totally been destroyed by the flood during August last.     I maintain my family round the year with the crops that I get from the lands. But now I am worried how I will pass my upcoming days. So, after the flood water receded, I started to cultivate my lands again. But I am facing setback due to the scarcity and price hike of saplings. Still I planted the saplings after buying those with loan money."
Farmer Azhar Ali of Charia village under Hatikumrul union in Ullahpara upazila said, "I had cultivated two-bigha land with much difficulty, but the flood destroyed all. To maintain livelihood, I finally sold my goat, and with this money, I bought saplings at high prices and started farming again."
Like them, many farmers of the district are trying to recover from the losses that were caused by the recent flood.
This year's flood has claimed the highest loss in the district's agriculture sector, said concerned sources.
Though the government provided different incentives including seed, fertiliser and hard cash to the affected farmers, these are far less than the actual need.
Of the affected 1.5 lakh farmers, the Agriculture Department has given seed and fertiliser to 31,242 farmers for cultivating one bigha of land, that is, the incentives were provided to only 20 per cent of the affected farmers.
But the farmers are not sitting idle. Most of them have planted Transplanted Aman (T-Aman) with personal initiatives, and they have surpassed the cultivation target in this connection.
Sources at the district agriculture office said, the cultivation target of T-Aman here is 59,135 hectares but in the meantime, T-Aman has been cultivated on 64,026 ha of lands. Besides, the farmers are bringing affected lands under the cultivation which will recoup the production deficit caused by the flood, the sources hoped.
Deputy Director (DD) of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) in Sirajganj Md Arshed Ali admitted the deficit in providing the government incentives to the farmers and said, "The recent flood has damaged around 23,900 ha of croplands in the district. Of those, crops on 20,259 ha were totally damaged and 3,721 ha were partially damaged. As a result, we apprehended an overall loss in the production. But, the farmers are trying to recover the losses through personal initiatives. In the meantime, they have brought more than the targeted lands under T-Aman farming. Besides, they are cultivating different vegetables in the affected lands. Our production target of paddy is 1,72,227 metric tons which we hope to achieve this season."
Concerned sources said, during the second phase flood in August last, a total of 64 unions under seven upazilas of the district were affected. After the water receded following the first phase flood in July last, many farmers cultivated T-Aman in their lands but after the second phase flood, all those lands including crops on 23,900 ha of lands went under water. As the flood water remained stranded for over two weeks in the lands, all kinds of crops including seedbeds were damaged.
The damage of crops caused by the two-time flood is worth about Tk 400 crore and around 24,000 farmers were directly and more than one lakh were indirectly affected. As the crops were damaged, the production deficit of crops is around 76,000 metric tons in the district.
The farmers were baffled by this loss but they are now trying to stand back.
Sub-Assistant Agriculture Officer (SAAO) of Hatikumrul union under Ullahpara upazila Abdus Sattar said, "T-Aman was cultivated on 1,520 ha of lands in the union this season, but 1,050 ha of lands were affected by the flood. The crops on 675 ha of lands were totally damaged while 375 ha were partially damaged. We are advising farmers how to recover from the losses. In the meantime, planting of saplings on the lands has been completed."
SAAO of Dhubil union under Sadar upazila Nazrul Islam said, "T-Aman was cultivated on 1,955 ha of lands under three blocks of the union, and of those, T-Aman on 500 ha of lands were damaged by the flood. After the flood water receded from the lands, the farmers have planted saplings on the damaged lands again."






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