Partha Chakrabortty

Mehedi Hasan, a university student who lives in Kashempur village of Bagerhat sadar upazila, lost his chicken farm over a year ago as coronavirus-induced losses made it impossible for him to continue operations.

Traditional muri (puffed rice) producers of Baruikhali village in Bagerhat’s Kachua upazila are facing a tough time, as machine-made puffed rice has flooded the market.

Altaf Hossain, a resident of Chandipur village in Morrelganj upazila of Bagerhat district, began his journey as a gardener back in 2010 by purchasing a single cactus for Tk 30.

In the eighties, the coastal district of Bagerhat used to meet the lion’s share of country’s coconut oil demand by producing about 26 metric tonnes of oil every day at 60 mills across the district.

Fourteen bailey bridges over different canals on two important roads in the district have become very risky and severely dilapidated, causing frequent accidents and disrupting vehicular movements.

Ever since the beginning of July, Abul Hossain, a livestock farmer based in the southwestern district of Bagerhat, has been patiently waiting for buyers for the three bulls he reared over the past three years.

A mobile kitchen market has been launched in Bagerhat town’s Swadhinata Udyan yesterday to cater to the people stuck at home during the lockdown.

Fish, shrimp enclosures and other structures in coastal areas surrounding the Sundarbans were damaged by tidal surges and storms due to the impact of cyclone Yaas, causing a loss of over Tk 5 crore.

A 1971 mass graveyard remains in shabby state due to lack of maintenance by authorities concerned in Shakhari Kathi village of Bagerhat’s Kachua upazila.

Incidents of ever-increasing manmade forest fires at the Sundarbans are endangering the unique ecology that thrives in the world’s largest mangrove forest -- the shield against natural calamities in the country’s south-western coast.

A surface water treatment plant, costing Tk 25 crore, is being constructed near Mongla port to supply freshwater to port users as well as the crew members and passengers of ships sailing in and out of the port.

Over the last couple of years, export earnings from shrimp, grown mainly in the southwest coastal districts for shipment to the developed economies, have been falling consistently in the face of competition from low-priced vannamei shrimp.

Many people at Sialkanthi village in Bagerhat’s Kachua upazila are now following a youth’s footsteps as he has successfully cultivated dragon fruit for the first time in the upazila.

When farmers in many areas in the country are struggling to market their produce amid limited access to wholesale markets due to pandemic scare, cucumber growers in five upazilas in Bagerhat are delighted to be able to sell the produce for not just good prices, but right from the field too.

The number of patients in the community clinics sees a steady rise as the common people prefer to get health services at the locality instead of going to upazila and district hospitals during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

Thousands of people in five upazilas of Bagerhat -- a coastal district where fresh drinking water is scarce due to high salinity in groundwater -- are once again getting their hopes up on a probable solution to their longstanding water crisis.

Cultivated fishes including carp and shrimp in a number of enclosures in Bagerhat are dying due to scarcity of water amid the hot weather prevailing for the last couple of weeks.

Primary school teachers in Bagerhat will get all the documents and information relating to their post-retirement leave (PRL), retirement and pension allowance online, thanks to the district primary education department’s initiative for hassle-free disbursement of retirement allowance and pension for the teachers.

A significant number of residents in six upazilas of coastal district Bagerhat -- where groundwater is unconsumable due to presence of high levels of arsenic and salinity -- are suffering from water-borne diseases this dry season as most pond sand filters (PSF) installed there have gone out of order.

Unlike other years, Bagerhat KB Bazar is flooded with different sizes of hilsa during the ongoing winter, much to the delight of fishermen and traders.