Due to untimely pre-monsoon showers crops in some 412 hectares of land were damaged in Kurigram according to the Department of Agricultural Extension.
Due to incessant rain in the last two months 265 hectares of Boro paddy, 95 hectares of Jute, 20 hectares of peanut, 12 hectares of vegetables,10 hectares of sesame,, five hectares of quinoa, and five hectares of radhuni horse (spice) were ruined.
“ As the sun did not come out, 30 maund of paddy I harvested started to rot. The wholesalers are not ready to buy these paddies even at tk 600 per maund,” said Suman, a well-off farmer from Shialkanda village in Nageshwari upazila.
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Agriculturist Abdur Rashid, Deputy Director of DAE said, “We have got the primary estimation of the damages which shows 60 per cent of the crops got damaged. But we can estimate the amount of loss later.”
He said so far 84 percent of Boro crops in the district have been collected. “The farmers are struggling a bit due to lack of sun otherwise the production met the expectations.”
Md Abdur Sabur, assistant director of Rajarhat weather observatory center said “Due to climate change and easterly wind pressure this year 990 mm of rainfall has been recorded already in April and May this year in the district.”
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He said, “The rain showers will persist till June . Already 512 mm of rainfall has been recorded until Monday in this month. Due to excessive rains croplands of low-lying areas in the district are being inundated.”