Floods threaten harvest of rice at haors
It has already started to rain at the haors in Sylhet. The cloudy skies in Mymensingh too indicate heavy rainfall. Haors lie low on the floodplains in Bangladesh against India’s Assam, Meghalaya and Barak Valley. Heavy rainfalls have begun in these Indian areas too.
According to the meteorological department, it may rain in Sylhet and Mymensingh on Saturday.
The Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre (FFWC) has issued a warning saying rain at these upper and lower regions may cause flush floods within a week at haors. This requires the haor rice to be harvested before the floods.
This year the water was late to recede from haors, the harvest was delayed too. By the mid of April, more than half of the rice have not ripen.
Despite so, harvesting has begun in several areas of Sunamganj, Moulvibazar and Mymensingh. The rice harvest labourers generally visit the haors at this time of year, but this year the number has dropped due to coronavirus.
Rice is being collected taking in local labourers from tea, sand and other sectors.
It may rain till 28 April at India’s Meghalay, Assam, and Barak as well as at Bangladesh’s haors. This may cause sudden floods at the end of the month, said Md Arifuzzaman Bhuiyan, executive engineer of FFWC.
According to Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI), rice has been cultivated on 445,000 hectares of land in the country. Some 84,000 laboureres will be needed to harvest the rice.
According to Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI), rice has been cultivated on 445,000 hectares of land in the country. Some 84,000 laboureres will be needed to harvest the rice. The haor areas can provide only 18 per cent of the required. The remaining 67,000 must be brought in from other areas. Still it would take 25 days for the labourers to harvest all the yields.
We have to pay the cost if we cannot save the haor rice, said BRRI director general Md. Shahjahan Kabir. He stressed rice harvesting machines and workers be sent to the haors without delay.
The agriculture ministry, however, says many labourers have already reached the haors amid coronavirus lockdown. The ministry has reportedly distributed 180 combine harvesters and 137 reapers in the areas.
The local administration has been directed to take necessary measures to maintain health guidelines for the labourers. This include health screening, providing hand sanitisers, soap, masks as well as separate transports and healthy harvesting spots.
The rest of the rice would be harvested in a week. If required, more equipment will be sent for harvest, agriculture minister Abdur Razzaque said.
If the rice is not harvested within this month, it would be of great loss, Ainun Nishat, emeritus professor at BRAC University, told Prothom Alo, noting that rice price doubled after about one million rice was wasted in 2017.
*This report, originally published in Prothom Alo’s print edition, has been rewritten here in English by Nusrat Nowrin.