Farmers in the coastal district of Khulna are a worried lot because of something they had no control over -- drought. With aridity delaying the Aman paddy cultivation process by nearly one-and-a-half months, the 80,000-plus farmers in the district fear that they may not be able to even recover the production cost this year. According to the department of agricultural extension (DoAE), only 16,055 hectares of land have so far been cultivated with Aman paddy -- barely one-fifth of the targeted 93,070 hectares. According to the weather department, almost four to five times less rainfall was recorded this year in Khulna as compared to last year. Read: Jute growers paying for drought that resulted in discoloured fibre In 2021, a total of 388.89 mm of rainfall was recorded in June, 506 mm in July and 213 mm in August. But this year, 94.36 mm of rainfall was recorded in June, 91.27 mm in July, and 161.19 mm till August 23. In the current season, 3,630 hectares of land in the district have been cultivated with Aush paddy, 1,316 hectares with jute, 35 hectares with tomato, 273 hectares with watermelon, 295 hectares with beans, and 8,265 hectares with winter vegetables. Farmers say Aman paddy needs plenty of water. "I only know how I am managing water to irrigate my 10 bighas of land to keep the planted beans alive,” said Abu Hanif Morol, a farmer from Kharnia village of Dumuria upazila. Farmers of Bamandia, Panchpota, Gonali, Bhadradia and Tipna villages are irrigating their Aman fields with water from the Bhadra river -- but channelising the river water is increasing their production costs. Md Hafizur Rahman, deputy director of Khulna DoAE, said Aman is being cultivated with water from the river in Fultola, Terokhada, Rupsha, Batiaghata, Dumuria, Dighalia and Dakop upazilas.  "Meanwhile, in Paikgacha and Koira upazilas, farmers were unable to use the river water as it is still too saline," he said. Read: Drought-like situation frustrates Aman growers in Naogaon “Already 100% seedbeds for Aman have been prepared but the production will still be less than projected due to a drought-like situation, " said the Khulna DoAE official. Lack of rainfall has slowed down the entire Aman cultivation process, said Paikgacha upazila agriculture officer, Jahangir Alam."Farmers have been advised to get in touch with the Rural Electrification Board." Mizanur Rahman, deputy assistant agriculture officer of Dakop upazila, said apart from the delay in Aman cultivation, production of watermelons and vegetables has also been hit in Pankhali union.

Despite bumper production of watermelon in Dakope upazila of Khulna, frustration has gripped the growers as they are fearing huge losses for lack of buyers and low prices due to coronavirus outbreak.   Farmers said watermelons are rotting in the fields as there is lack of customers at the market due to the restriction in movement imposed to stop the transmission of the deadly virus.   Huge watermelons are likely to be damaged in the fields as those are not being harvested for lack of buyers, they said.

Farmers in Koyra upazila of Khulna have been successful in sunflower cultivation on saline soils which used to lie unused after the cultivation of Aman paddy.   The farmers of the upazila had, in fact, started farming sunflower on the saline soils experimentally and they were now expecting good profit from it.   Talking to UNB, some famers said the lands used to lie fallow after the Aman paddy harvesting and they started cultivating sunflower on those in collaboration with the Agricultural Research Institute (ARI) and the yield looks to be very good.   During a recent visit to sunflower fields at Chandipur village and Koyra-2 village under Amadi union in the upazila, the UNB correspondent found one hectare of land covered with yellow sunflower that has brought luck for farmers.   The department has been successful in cultivating sunflower experimentally on saline fallow lands.   "I’ve grown sunflowers on 15 bighas of land," said Subhas Mandal, a local farmer.   As the saline lands used to lie unused after Aman, ARI advised farmers to cultivate sunflower on that. They provided farmers with fertilizers, seeds and pesticides to bring the lands under cultivation.   ARI scientific assistant Zahid Hasan said salinity-tolerant sunflower was cultivated on one hectare of saline land at Koira's Chandipur and Koira-2 villages. “I visited the land regularly and gave the farmers necessary suggestions,” he said.   Earlier, sunflower was cultivated on experimental basis at Uttar Bedkashi Union and Koira-3 village in the upazila, Zahid said.   Salinity-tolerant sunflower was cultivated at the villages under the supervision of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), Khulna.   BARI chief scientific officer Dr Md Harunur Rashid said sunflower is a salt tolerant crop. In the south region of the country, vast tracts of land remain fallow after harvesting Aman paddy. “It’s difficult to grow any other crop easily as there’s salt in the soil and water but sunflower can be cultivated with two irrigations,” he added.   In Bangladesh, sunflower cultivation as a crop goes back to 1975. It is currently cultivated — though in a limited way -- in Patuakhali, Rajshahi, Jashore, Kushtia, Natore, Pabna, Dinajpur, Gazipur and Tangail. Its seeds contain 40-45 percent linoleic acid. Since its oil does not contain harmful erucic acid, it is beneficial to heart patients.

Farmers in Khulna, who faced trouble over harvesting Boro crops due to labour crisis amid coronavirus shutdown, now have suffered yet another blow due to recent rains as that might damage the crop now lying in the field after it was cut down.