Before the Puja festival, people in West Bengal were worn down by days of continuous rain. The heavy rain caused flooding in several districts, and farmers suffered heavy losses as water stood in their fields and destroyed crops across acre after acre. A few days of scorching sun since then have dried the fields somewhat. But a fresh forecast of rain under the influence of Cyclone Arnab has worried farmers in Hooghly district. The paddy is due to be harvested soon, and the potato season is at hand. Farmers fear that renewed rain would do heavy damage to their crops.
According to the weather department’s forecast, the deep depression over the Bay of Bengal intensified into Cyclone Arnab on Monday morning. Meteorologists said it would strengthen further over the next two days and was set to make landfall on the coasts of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha on the morning of Wednesday, 28 October. How strong its effect would be was still not clear. Under its influence, rain could fall in the state’s coastal districts from Tuesday, along with gusty winds. The Alipore weather office forecast heavy rain in places, though everything depended on the cyclone’s track, which meteorologists were watching.
Concern over its impact is growing among farmers in Singur, Dhanekhali, Arambagh and other farming areas of Hooghly district. Besides damage to aman and aus paddy, preparations for potato planting may also be disrupted. Farmers were already struggling with the vagaries of nature: at times water shortages, at times excessive rain. And now Arnab. With storms and rain feared, they are deeply anxious about the future of their crops. Aman and aus paddy is now standing in fields across Singur, Haripal, Dhanekhali and Arambagh. In many fields the aman paddy has not yet headed, while in others heading and flowering are under way. If heavy rain falls and strong winds blow at this stage, the plants could be flattened, which farmers fear could sharply cut yields. There are even fears about saving the paddy at all.
One local farmer said that if it rains again, all the paddy in the fields will be ruined, and attacks by sucking pests could increase. Farmers fear that in such conditions it will be hard to harvest the paddy and bring it home. He added that land had been prepared to plant Jyoti and other varieties of potato. But continuous rain could waterlog the fields and turn the soil to mud, spoiling conditions for planting and delaying the work. For now, farmers are keeping a close eye on the weather.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report