The Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) said the three-phase floods damaged vegetables in the district, forcing farmers to count huge losses.

Crops on 17,000 hectares of land have been damaged during the prolonged flood. The authorities concerned have estimated the loss caused by the flood at Tk 140 crores, said DAE sources.

DAE officials have distributed vegetable seeds to 27,761 farmers and already 490 hectares of land have been brought under vegetable cultivation under Kharip-2 (Kharip is monsoon or autumn crops).

Read Also: Flood destroys crops worth Tk 1,323 cr: Agriculture Minister

Of these, radish has been cultivated on 120 hectares, bottle gourd on 70 hectares, jute on 160 hectares and red spinach on 140 hectares.

Besides, many farmers have planted eggplant and early winter vegetables to earn a good amount of money.

During a recent visit, farmers were seen working hard in the fields with a hope to recoup losses.

A number of vegetable farmers of Sinai union in Razarhat upazila said they brought some 1.5 acres of land under eggplant cultivation and have spent Tk 20,000-25,000 on each bigha.

Read also: Dumuria farmers dump paddy, switch over to vegetable farming

They hope that they will be able to earn Tk 80,000 to Tk 100,000 from crops on each bigha if the weather remains good and there’s no pest attack.

Dr Mostafizur Rahman, deputy director of DAE, said the officials concerned are giving advice to farmers on recouping losses and the work to distribute vegetable seeds among 27,761 farmers of the district is going on.

According to the Agriculture Ministry, this year flood has damaged crops on over 1.58 lakh hectares of lands, causing losses worth Tk 1,323 crore. Minister Abdur Razzaque said the ministry has taken various measures to recoup losses and hopefully it won’t put any negative impact on food production, he added.