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Aman paddy plantation is being disrupted due to severe heat and scarcity of rain in 8 districts of Rangpur division.
Agriculturalists, experts and farmers are apprehending a setback in Ropa Aman plantation in the region due to the ongoing unprecedented heat wave for the last two weeks.
Sources said seed beds are getting damaged in the scorching temperature. Farmers have to count much for resorting supplementary irrigation to cultivate the lands.
According to the Met office, Rangpur recorded the highest daily maximum temperature of 38C for the last couple of days which was the highest daily maximum temperature since 2010, when the highest daily maximum temperature was recorded at 37.6C.
According to officials of Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), the target of producing about 18.08 lakh tonnes of clean Aman rice (about 27.12 lakh tonnes of paddy) from over 6.15 lakh hectares of land has been fixed from all five districts- Rangpur, Kurigram, Lalmonirhat, Nilphamari and Gaibandha of the region..
Some 15,47,403 tonnes of high yielding varieties of Aman rice from 5,32,115 hectares of land, 2,24,765 tonnes of hybrid varieties of Aman rice from 64,035 hectares and 35,748 tonnes of local varieties of Aman rice from 19,535 hectares of land are expected to produce .
Many of the Farmers of the region said the T-Aman cultivation usually depends on seasonal rainfall. Saplings usually are planted on the lands in the rain water during the month of Ashar and Sharabon. But absence of rainfall in the peak season has made them frustrated. Lands are drying due to the inclement weather. Seedbeds are turning yellowish in the scorching temperature that cannot be used for the plantation.
Afzal Miah, a farmer at Imadpur village under Mithapukur upazila of the district, said he planned to cultivate T- Aman paddy on his twelve bighas of lands. He prepared seedbeds accordingly. Farmers usually transplant 25-35 days seedlings on the cultivable lands from the seedbeds. But the saplings in the beds have become almost 45 days age which are turning yellowish colour due to the heat wave.
The seedbeds will be damaged completely if there is no immediate rainfall, he added.
Abu Bakar Siddique a farmer of Godha village under Nilphamari district, said finding no alternative, he managed to irrigate his land by diesel run shallow machine. He has to spend additional Tk 1500 for per bigha irrigation.
The farm labourers have become the worst sufferers as they cannot work due to ongoing heat wave.
Nurul Islam, 50, a farm labourer at Khedabag village under Lalmonirhat Sadar, said he has never experienced such temperature in his life. It becomes difficult for them to work in the farmlands amid the scorch, he added.
Senior Agriculture & Environment Coordinator, RDRS Bangladesh, Mamunur Rashid said, “Farmers are unable to transplant Ropa Aman as there is no rain in the region for almost twenty days. So, supplementary irrigation is very essential to complete the transplantation that would increase the farming cost and the farmers have to bear the toll.”
He also said the farmers should be supported with government incentives for supplementary irrigation cost.
When asked Additional Director DAE Rangpur region Agriculturist Md. Emdad Hossain Sheikh said, “We have taken special measures to prepare more seedbeds considering the possibility of flood and draught in the season so that the Aman cultivation may not get hampered under any adverse circumstances.”
