Home ›› 26 Feb 2022 ›› Nation
Earlier this month, parts of the country witnessed massive rainfalls, largely unusual in the late winter, resulting in significant crop loss, an event which farmers attributed to failure to reach met office forecasts to their level, eventually affecting kitchen market prices.
“We had no information of the forecast. The downpour damaged standing crops like potato and vegetables,” said farmer Ariful Haque Batul of Najirdigar in Rangpur Sadar.
A fellow farmer Rezaul Islam, Echhahaq Ali and Helaluddin, said they could have developed drainage systems in advance for some of the yields if they had any knowledge of the forecast.
The Agromet division of the Bangladesh Meteorological Department said they forecasted that the country was likely to witness rainfall on February 4 and 5 and provided the information to the Agriculture Extension Department (DAE) and Disaster Management Department.
However, the DAE officials said they conveyed it to the upazila and district agriculture offices which subsequently sent the Agromet forecast to the lead farmers or farmers’ organizations through SMS, voice SMS and email.
But it appears that there was a communication gap in places where the farmers had not been properly informed of the impending weather situation though crops were saved through advanced harvesting or developing drainage systems in several areas.
Most affected farmers across the country said the DAE or other government offices had not informed them about the weather forecast.
Meteorological Departments’ Agromet division Deputy Director SM Mahmudul Haque said they issued an advisory seven days before the rain lashed different districts across the country on February 4-5.
“We issued four bulletins in a month and provided it to public agencies like the DAE and Disaster Management Department who are expected to disseminate them to the growers, and it falls to their shoulders if they fail to convey the news to the root level farmers,” he said.
DAE’s agro-meteorological information systems development project director Dr Md Shah Kamal Khan said they got only one or two days for disseminating the advisory through sub-assistant agriculture officers (SAAOs) before the winter rains lashed the standing crops.
Kamal said the farmers should be more aware of the Agromet forecast to minimize their crop loss from the weather events. DAE official for greater Dinajpur Prodip Kumar Guha supplemented Kamal, saying the rain could harm little the crops in Dinajpur as farmers there developed in advance drainage systems to protect yields from unpredictable or sudden rains.
“Crops in Dinajpur were largely saved due to the drainage systems, but in (neighbouring) Panchagargh and Thakurgaon, the situation was different – the farmers there incurred huge crop loss as they were preparing to harvest their Robi crops,” Guha said.
Several experts said extreme events frequently expose farmers to crop damages as the Agromet forecast does not reach them in time for lack of its proper dissemination.
Climate scientist Dr Mohan Kumar Das said Agromet advisory should also be disseminated among the farmers in their understandable language so they could plan their strategies.
Das, also the executive director of the National Oceanographic and Maritime Institute (NOAMI), said he expected a revitalized DAE role in weather information dissemination.
“In recent days, crop insurance is also becoming popular which may compensate their loss and damage,” he added.
A westerly low triggered the heavy winter rainfall on February 4-5, causing severe damage to wheat, maize, potato, vegetable and spice fields in different parts of the country.
Farmers said standing wheat and maize plants shuddered in many places in Dinajpur, Nilphamari, Thakurgaon, Panchagarh and Rangpur districts.
