Farmers in Kurigram are gripped by concerns as they are unable to irrigate their land for the Aman rice cultivation due to insufficient rain and rampant load shedding.

Many seedbeds of Aman rice have turned "red" due to drought at the beginning of the season. If there is no rain soon, farmers fear that the expected production target of Aman crop will be badly impacted.

Meanwhile, irrigation is also being hampered due to severe load shedding. Cracks are forming on the soil, as farmers are not able to irrigate their land on time.

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According to Kurigram Agricultural Extension Department sources, a target has been set to cultivate Aman rice on 1.20 lakh hectares of land in the district this season. Saplings have already been planted on 28,000 hectares of land. There are 30,000 irrigation machines in the field.

Farmers say it rained almost every day in the last week of June and the first four-five days of July. Many fields were also waterlogged. But at that time, the farmers could not plant paddy saplings as the land was not ready.

Rahim Uddin Haider, a farmer of Ghanshyampur village of Jatrapur union of Kurigram Sadar upazila, said, "There has been no heavy rain in our area in last 15 days. On one side, drought is going on and on the other side, load shedding."

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Biplob Kumar Mohanta, Deputy Director of Kurigram Agricultural Extension Department, said there is no reason to worry about achieving the target of Aman production even though rainfall is somewhat less.

"Aman cultivation season has just begun. Aman saplings can be planted throughout the month of August. Hopefully the weather will be favorable and we will achieve our target," he added.