Flash flood, hailstorm damage boro in Moulvibazar <i>haors</i>
Boro paddy in large areas of Kawadighi Haor in Rajnagar upazila under Moulvibazar district get damaged as the recent weeklong downpour caused water stagnation in the fields.Photo: STAR
Flash flood and hailstorm has caused extensive damage to mature and half-mature boro paddy in haor (large marshy land) areas of Rajnagar and Srimongal upazilas under the district. During this correspondent's visit to different areas of Kawadighi Haor in Rajnagar upazila a couple of days ago, farmers said standing boro paddy on hundreds of acres of land in low-lying areas have gone under water due to recent weeklong downpour while the pump house at Kashimpur has failed to remove the stagnant water from the haor. "I cultivated boro paddy on 17 acres of land but 60 percent of the standing crops has gone under rain water," said Hiralal of Kadipur village. Kashimpur pump house should be kept operative round the clock to save paddy fields in Kawadighi haor, said Jutish Das and Gopal Boidya of Antehori village. Rajnagar upazila Agriculture Extension officer Md Moeen Uddin expressed hope that standing boro paddy may be saved from further damage if there is no further rainfall and if Kashimpur pump house remains operative without any interruption. On the other hand, Arfan Ullah, operator of Kashimpur pump house, said, "Operation of the pump house is often disturbed due to inadequate electricity supply. It had to be kept inoperative for 20 hours on April 26 - 27 due to disruption of power supply." Meanwhile, hailstorm in early hours on April 20 caused damage of matured and half-matured boro paddy in Kalapur, Srimongal Sadar, Mirzapur and Bhunabir unions of Srimongal upazila. As a result, farmers in these areas sustained a loss of around 1500 tonnes of paddy worth Tk 20.6 million. The hailstorm coupled with inundation due to excessive rain damaged about half of the standing boro paddy on 1,000 hectares of land in and around Hail Haor under the upazila, said Sukalpa Das, Srimongal upazila agriculture officer. Moulvibazar district Department of Agriculture Extension sources said 52,350 hectares of land in seven upazilas under the district were brought under boro cultivation this year.
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