Home ›› 13 Apr 2022 ›› Nation
Farmers in Netrokona haor areas are busy harvesting paddy in fear of damage to their crop due to the rising water level in various rivers under the district.
The flow of upstream water down the hill slope is raising the water level that poses risk to harvesting.
At present water level in Dhanu River under Khaliajuri upazila has started decreasing while farmers are making good use of it. They are cutting paddy round the clock.
Meanwhile, 13 per cent of total paddy has been procured in Khaliajuri, Mohanganj and Madan upazila, according to the department of agriculture.
Of 44,000 hectares of land, 5,320 have been cleared of harvesting in the last two days. Under the overall supervision of the district and upazila administrations and agriculture department, 285 modern agricultural machineries and more than 2,000 workers from outside the district have been hired to cut paddy.
About 8,000 local agricultural workers also joined the work.
FM Mobarak Ali, deputy director, Department of Agricultural Extension, Netrokona, said paddy harvesting has started in some areas of haor. After two weeks, harvesting will begin in full swing. “However, I am worried about the early flash flooding. We advised farmers to plant early varieties of paddy. But many of them did not do so in the hope of higher yield,” he added.
Deputy Commissioner (DC) Kazi Md Abdur Rahman said cracks appeared in some parts of Kirtankhola dam in Khaliajuri. Farmers are concerned that the dam runs the risk of being broken down and their crops would be flooded.
In this situation, measures have been taken to repair and protect the dam with the help of villagers.
The water of Dhanu River near the dam is flowing 31 centimetres below the danger level. At present, haor farmers in three upazilas have started harvesting ripe paddy with great enthusiasm.
According to local farmers and upazila administration, there are 89 haors in Khaliajuri out of total 134 in the district.
Of the 300-kilometre submerged (temporary) dam in haor area, 181km is in Khaliajuri, 61km in Mohanganj and 46.75km in Madan.
The cultivation of about 60,000 hectares of Boro crop land depends on the dam. This year Water Development Board has constructed a dam under the supervision of upazila administration at a cost of around Tk 33.12 crore to protect farming.
Local farmers said the outer part of the embankment in Laxmipur, Chunaihaor, Baidyar Char, Katkail’s Kanda and Kirtankhola haor under Khaliajuri has already been submerged.
However, no crop-protection dam has broken yet, but they are worried that it may break if water level rises.
Rice grower Moniruzzaman in Panchhat area under Gazipur union in Khaliajuri said the area outside the embankment of Bailong haor has already gone under water.
“Outside the crop protection dam, about 20 acres of half-ripen paddy are under water. The only crop of the whole year went under water in front of our eyes,” he vented his frustration.
“We have nothing to do. Crop protection dams have been set up in haor. If the agriculture department advised us to cultivate early varieties of paddy, there would be no such loss.”
