Low prices for crops in the previous season, the burden of loans and costly labour are discouraging an increasing number of farmers from growing boro paddy this year.   Agricultural experts said farmers in the southern region are turning away for various reasons, including increasing agriculture labour wage. This year, Khulna farmers did not buy 900 metric tonnes of boro seed of BADC.   Locals said aman paddy on 25,000 hectares and vegetables on 864 hectares of land were damaged during cyclone ‘Bulbul’. Besides, pest infestation damaged crops on several hundred acres in Rupsha, Botiaghata and Dumuria upazilas.   Farmers could not harvest anything but straws. Thousands of farmers were affected. Besides, they did not get fair prices for their produces in the aman season.   Md Liaqat Ali, Deputy Director of Khulna BADC (Seed), said cyclones ‘Fani’ and ‘Bulbul’ caused massive damage to farmers.   “There was a high demand for hybrid variety of,seed. Besides, many farmers opted for onion due to the unexpected price hike,” he said.   Sources at the agricultural office said 2,000 metric tonnes of seeds were allocated in the BADC’s warehouse of Satkhira, Kaliganj and Bagerhat for the current season. These include  BR-26, BR-28, BRI-29, BRI-47, BRI-58, BRI-63, BRI-67, BRI-74, BRI-81 and BRI-86 varieties of paddy.

Cyclone ‘Bulbul’ dealt a heavy blow to the dreams of hundreds of tomato growers in the coastal district as farmers now stare at bleak future scratching their heads to find ways to repay loans.

On the fateful night when cyclone Bulbul hit the coast, six people were at home, including Nilufar Begum, her husband and son. The cyclone took away everything that was in their home, even the pots and pans.

The French Embassy in Dhaka has extended condolences to the families of victims of cyclone ‘Bulbul’ which battered the country’s coastal districts early Sunday.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina passed a sleepless night on Saturday observing cyclonic storm ‘Bulbul’ which lashed the country’s coastal districts early Sunday, said Information Minister Hasan Mahmud.   “The Prime Minister gave necessary directives to take preparations to face cyclone Bulbul and the post-cyclone situation. She spent a sleepless night,” he said while speaking at a meeting arranged at Awami League’s Dhaka South office on the Bangabandhu Avenue marking ‘Shaheed Noor Hossain Day’ on Sunday.   Criticising BNP for its allegation that the government did not take necessary steps to tackle the cyclone, the minister said the massive preparations taken by the administration saved the lives of people and minimised the extent of damages.   He said lakhs of people lost their lives while there had been colossal damages to property in the 1991 cyclone during the BNP tenure. “Even over 35 fighter aircraft of Bangladesh Air Force suffered damages due to the mismanagement. The aircraft were washed away into the road from the airport.”   Hasan Mahmud also alleged then Prime Minister Khaleda Zia was busy changing her saris as then Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was visiting Bangladesh. “She (Khaleda) changed seven saris in just one single day.”   Five people were killed in Bagerhat, Khulna and Patuakhali districts as cyclone ‘Bulbul’ made a landfall in Khulna and adjoining southwestern part of the country early Sunday before weakening into a deep depression.   Meanwhile, two other people, who took shelter in cyclone centres, died of cardiac arrest after being panicked in Patuakhali and Satkhira districts.   The cyclonic storm, which turned into ‘severe’ from ‘very severe’ on Saturday night, completed crossing the West Bengal-Khulna coast near the Sundarbans around 5am and then weakened further into a deep depression.