Fuel crunch disrupts Boro cultivation in Cox's Bazar

Paddy harvesting also hit hard in Sunamganj, Sylhet

OUR CORRESPONDENTS | Published: April 23, 2026 21:53:56

A prevailing fuel crisis, particularly involving diesel, is causing widespread disruption to Boro paddy cultivation in Cox's Bazar district while a large number of farmers in the haor areas of Sunamganj and Sylhet are reporting difficulties in harvesting paddy being unable to run harvesters for a sharp scarcity of fuel.
Our Cox's Bazar correspondent reports: A severe crunch of fuel oil is largely hampering cultivation of Boro paddy in Cox's Bazar district in the current season
as thousands of irrigation pumps have fallen inoperative for want of diesel.
The halt in irrigation is raising such a concern that at least 25,000 hectares of paddy fields may dry out.
Romiz Uddin, a farmer from Varuakhali in Sadar upazila, has cultivated Boro paddy on three acres of land. The seedlings, transplanted in mid-December, require regular irrigation.
Although he installed a 4-horsepower diesel-powered shallow pump, he has not been able to run it continuously even for an hour over the past month due to the fuel shortage. "If this continues for another two weeks, most of the crops will die," he said.
A similar situation has been observed in several parts of the district, including Kalarmarchhara, Hoanak, and Mizzirpara in Maheshkhali upazila, as well as Muhuripara, Banglabazar, and Kharulia in Jhilongja union under Sadar upazila.
Under intense heat, the soil is cracking, while farmers remain helpless due to the lack of irrigation.
According to the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), there are a total of 7,146 irrigation pumps across nine upazilas of Cox's Bazar, about 70 percent of which are diesel-powered.
However, due to the ongoing fuel crisis, more than 4,200 pumps are currently out of operation, severely disrupting irrigation activities.
In the current season, Boro paddy has been cultivated on 55,700 hectares of land in the district, with a production target of 235,752 tonnes. Officials fear that the target may not be achieved if the crisis continues.
Amir Hamza, a farmer from Kalarmarchhara in Maheshkhali, said, "Last year, I used canal water for irrigation, but the canal has dried up this year. Now I depend on others' pumps, but I haven't received proper irrigation for the past 20 days. The plants are turning reddish."
Agriculture officials said that deep tube-wells require about five litres of diesel to run per hour, low-lift pumps about four litres, and shallow pumps around two litres.
Without an immediate improvement in fuel supply, a sharp decline in Boro production is feared.
Stakeholders have urged the authorities to ensure an emergency diesel supply and uninterrupted electricity to protect agricultural production.
Otherwise, farmers will face mounting losses, and overall food production may be adversely affected.
Dr. Bimal Kumar Pramanik, deputy director of the DAE, Cox's Bazar, said the district has been facing an acute fuel shortage for the past month.
"Due to insufficient diesel supply, more than half of the irrigation pumps remain idle.
Frequent power outages are further worsening the situation," he added.
Our Correspondent from Sylhet reports: A large-scale fuel crisis, characterised by diesel scarcity, is significantly disrupting the harvesting of Boro paddy across the haors of Sylhet region, including Sunamganj district, triggering apprehension of massive crop losses.
According to the DAE Deputy Director Omar Faruque, more than 700 combined harvesters usually operate in the district, but in reality, more than half of the harvesters now remain closed due to the prevailing fuel crisis.
Many are refraining from operating the harvesters due to the trouble in managing to buy the required amount of diesel while the farmers demand uninterrupted fuel supply during the current harvesting period.
However, due to the shortage of combined harvester machines and labourers compared to the demand, big farmers are struggling to harvest paddy.
Due to the unavailability of sufficient number of labourers, those financially able are having their paddy reaped somehow by paying extra wages.
On the one hand, farmers are worried about the crops being submerged in rain and hilly floods due to the failure to complete the crop protection embankment on time.
Several thousand hectares of cropland went under water due to flash floods caused by heavy rains across the haors.
Since harvesters cannot work in the water, the workers have to be paid extra wages. As a result, overall costs are increasing. There is no end to the worries about harvesting paddy with harvesters due to the fuel shortage in the market.
On the one hand, harvesters are not available as per demand, and on the other hand, many farmers are not able to harvest ripe paddy on time due to the lack of laborers for the job.
Boro paddy has been cultivated on 223,511 hectares of land in Sunamganj with production target of 1.4 million tonnes, whose market value is Tk 50 billion (Tk5,000 crore).
The Sunamganj district administration has decided to charge Tk1,900 per 30 decimal land for harvesting paddy with the harvester machine.
In many places, Tk2,500 or above per one bigha is being charged. Still, no one is complaining to the administration, because everyone needs to harvest paddy first.
WDB Executive Engineer Md. Mamun Howlader said 603 kilometers of temporary crop protection embankments have been constructed at a cost of Tk1.48 billion.
Committees have been formed in each upazila to resolve waterlogging crisis in haors. The committee is removing water by cutting dams if necessary.
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