SUNAMGANJ, Bangladesh — A silent disaster has spread across the haor wetlands of northeastern Bangladesh as shoddy embankment work, missed deadlines and flimsy levees have collapsed under flash floods, drowning ripening paddy fields. Where waves of golden rice stretched to the horizon only days ago, there is now only floodwater. Heavy rains and flash floods from upland streams have inundated the vast haor wetlands of Moulvibazar and Sunamganj, turning paddy fields into a sodden plain. Farmers wading chest-deep in water to harvest rice are fighting hunger as much as gathering a crop.
The plight of Noman Mia, a farmer from Rakta village on the edge of Kauadighi haor in Moulvibazar, mirrors what is happening across the region. Supporting a family of five, he said: “I’m harvesting paddy in chest-deep water, but I can’t find laborers. I’m cutting rice while leeches bite me, because if I don’t get the year’s food together, we’ll starve. I’ve managed five bighas out of 16. The rest is lost.”
The picture is the same for Rahis Uddin Chowdhury, a farmer from Fenarbak village in Jamalganj upazila of Sunamganj. His 50 kiars of land are now under water. Crippled by the labor shortage, he is at his wits’ end. Sharecropper Faruk Mia took a loan to farm another man’s land and has not been able to harvest a single grain. The farmers face a wall of darkness — a mountain of debt on one side, the cost of feeding their families on the other.
Government and private estimates of damage to the boro rice crop in Moulvibazar and Sunamganj differ widely. The Department of Agricultural Extension in Moulvibazar said 2,442 hectares of land have been completely destroyed out of 62,400 hectares under cultivation, with damage estimated at 45 crore to 50 crore taka. The losses have hit about 18,000 farmers.
The situation in Sunamganj is even worse. The district agriculture department says about 25,000 hectares of boro rice has been damaged, with losses estimated at about 500 crore taka. Local farmers dispute the figures. They say half the haor paddy is still under water and that damage will exceed 1,000 crore taka. Sunamganj had 224,000 hectares of boro paddy planted this season, with a market value of about 5,000 crore taka. The losses are not only a local disaster but a warning sign for national food security.
Rising water in the haors has made it impossible to use combine harvesters or reapers, forcing farmers to rely on manual cutting. But the labor supply is far short of demand. Workers brought in from outside districts are reluctant to work in the difficult conditions. Even with higher wages, laborers cannot be found. Renting a boat costs 500 to 1,000 taka. Farmers in Moulvibazar complain that the Kashimpur pump station, which drains water from Kauadighi haor, has not been running properly because of a fuel shortage, worsening the situation.
The little rice that farmers manage to pull out of the water creates new problems. With constant rain and no sun, the paddy cannot be dried. Grain heaped on threshing floors is sprouting. A foul smell of rotting rice hangs over the haors. Straw used as livestock feed is rotting too, leaving dairy farmers and draft-cattle owners in a bind. Market prices for paddy have fallen, leaving no way to sell it.
The question on every villager’s lips is why early floods cannot be prevented year after year. The Sunamganj Water Development Board said 603 kilometers of embankments were built around 53 haors this year at a cost of 103 crore taka. But residents accuse Project Implementation Committees of widespread irregularities. Work was not completed on time and embankments were not sturdy, so they have broken easily under the flash floods.
Weather data show several times the normal rainfall in March and April. Sunamganj recorded 398 millimeters of rain in April, compared with a normal of 287 millimeters. Existing embankments could not withstand the record rainfall and the flash floods coming from upstream.
On the instructions of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, work has begun to compile a list of affected farmers. A committee of upazila executive officers, upazila agriculture officers and project implementation officers is drawing it up. Government ministers visited Sunamganj on May 5 to launch the relief operation. But farmers say a list is not enough. They want financial aid immediately to save them from the grip of moneylenders and loan sharks, and free fertilizer and seeds for the next planting season.
The silent calamity has left the farmers numb. The harvest watered by their sweat has been swept away. A whole season’s hopes have drowned. Thousands of farmers lie awake at night wondering how they will repay their debts. Caught between hostile weather and administrative failure, the farmers of the haors are at the breaking point. Unless the government provides effective and lasting solutions, the country’s grain-growers risk being ruined for good.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report