Jashore’s Abhaynagar may fail to achieve the target of Aman production this year as crops on 1, 826 hectares of lands have been damaged due to waterlogging in Bhabadah Beel, leaving farmers worried. Though the upazila usually sees a bumper yield of transplanted Aman paddy every year, this year’s scenario is different. According to the upazila agriculture office, the target for Aman cultivation in eight unions and one municipality this season was set at 7,550 hectares—1,790 hectares of hybrid varieties, 5,825 hectares of high-yield varieties and 25 hectares of local varieties. But 7,640 hectares of lands were brought under Aman cultivation, an increase by 90 hectares compared to the target. The farmers and agriculture officials predict that the upazila will face a deficit of 9, 375 metric tonnes out of targeted 38020 metric tonnes this year. Last year, the Ropa Aman paddy was cultivated on 7, 550 hectares of land while this number stood at 5, 814 hectares, a decrease by 1, 736 hectares this year. All the Ropa Aman planted on 835 hectares of lands in Sundoli union were damaged. Read:Govt to procure 3.5 lakh MT Aman paddy at Tk 33 per kg Three hundred and ten hectares of lands out of 850 hectares have been damaged in Nawabganj union, 533 hectares out of 1, 154 in Prembag union, 60 out of 1,011 hectares in Chalishia union, 88 out of 605 hectares in Payra union. The highest 1,392 hectares of Ropa Aman were cultivated in Sreedharpur union. Besides, Bagutia, Shubharara and Siddhipasha unions have cultivated the paddy on 1,305 460 and 140 hectares of land this year. Ujjal Das, a farmer from Sundoli’s Arpara village, said he leased one acre of land in Shurirdanga Beel for transplanted Aman. However, the entire crop has been damaged by waterlogging. Echoing Ujjal, another farmer Rabiul Islam from Chalishia’s Kota village, said he planted Aman on two bighas in Chatra Beel, but all his crops have been destroyed. “We’re living in despair, with waterlogged yards and no yield. We need government compensation to survive,” he said. Abhaynagar Upazila Agriculture Officer Lovely Khatun blamed the waterlogging for the possible shortfall of the Aman paddy this year. “The government is working with utmost sincerity to resolve the waterlogging issue permanently. For areas where water may recede within 20–25 days, short-duration, high-yield BINA-14 paddy cultivation is being recommended. We’re also focusing on boosting vegetable production,” she said. Under the agricultural rehabilitation programme, 475 farmers are receiving high-yield vegetable seeds and a cash grant of Tk 1,000 each. Read more: 17, 359 MT rice, 7, 614 MT Aman paddy to be collected from Naogaon this season Efforts are also being made to prioritise boro paddy cultivation for the upcoming season, she added.

A debacle in Aman paddy production is raising fears of an upcoming food crisis in Bagerhat. This year, rainfall in Bagerhat was 489mm less than last year. As a result, although the Aman season is nearing its end, around 40 percent of agricultural land in the district is lying uncultivated due to a drought-like situation. Lack of water is making it hard for farmers to plant Aman seedlings, and those who’ve already planted the seedlings are watching their crops becoming yellow and drying up. Read: Drought-like situation frustrates Aman growers in Naogaon Amid such a situation, the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) is thinking of bringing changes to the paddy growing process and artificially inducing rainfall. According to the DAE, there are a total of 2,44,328 farming families in Bagerhat. The season for planting Aman seedlings runs between July 1 and September 15. This year, the government had set a target to cultivate 2,66,980 metric tons of Aman paddy in 74,425 hectares of land, among which only 41,000 hectares of land has been cultivated till now. Besides, Bagerhat has witnessed 2538mm rain from May to August this year, which was 3027mm during the same period in the previous year. This means that there has been 489mm less rain in the district this season, which has affected the production of Aman paddy to a great extent. While visiting Bagerhat’s Kochua and Fakirhat upazilas, UNB found that cracks and weeds have emerged in all the paddy fields there. Farmers, worried about food shortage, were trying to save their seedlings through irrigation. The same scenario prevailed in the district’s Sadar, Sharankhola and Mollarhat upazilas too. Sheikh Asadur Rahman, a local farmer, plants paddy in five acres of land every year. He runs his family by consuming and selling the rice grown on his land. This year, Asad is facing dual crises. While the seedbed that he had prepared for the first time got wasted due to the water crisis, the seedbed that he prepared the second time is being eaten up by domestic animals. “Seedlings can’t be implanted on dry land. I couldn’t implant any seedlings this season due to a lack of water. The Aman farming season is nearing its end, which means I won’t be able to cultivate any paddy this year. I don’t know how I will survive,” Asad said. Swapan Das, Chairman of Fakirhat Upazila Parishad, has seen the farming methods of many countries. While talking to UNB, he provided some ideas to mitigate the farming crisis that is going on in the district. Read: Scanty rains worry Aman, Jute growers in Thakurgaon “New variants of paddy have to be invented through conducting research on water and soil. Solar energy has to be used in ensuring water supply through irrigation. Besides, subsidies in the current method of irrigation have to be increased and the price of electricity has to be lowered,” said Swapan. Md Azizur Rahman, Deputy Director of Bagerhat’s Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), suggested water pumps to be used in paddy farming to deal with the water crisis. “To mitigate the losses, we’ve advised the farmers to cultivate the BR-23 variant of paddy and irrigate their lands using water pumps. Currently, a total of 4,500 water pumps are running in the district,” Azizur said. Azizur added that the period for implanting seedlings has been extended to September 30. “We have to wait till the harvesting period to know whether the government will miss its target for Aman production this year or not,” added Azizur.