SYLHET, Apr 08: Farmers are being forced to harvest the unripe Boro paddy that has gone under water in the Sylhet region due to the water stagnation triggered by early rains and runoff from the upper catchment in the past seven days.
They are now cutting and gathering a considerable volume of rice stalks before the grains have fully matured, turned yellow, and hardened.
On Tuesday afternoon, a scene of green paddy being cut from under water and lifted into boats was seen at Islampur village of haor bank in Sunamganj Sadar upazila.
Farmers complained that due to the lack of arrangement to drain the rainwater accumulated in the haor, most of the farmers' unripe paddy was submersed.
Sources at the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) said a total of 3,640 hectares of paddy fields has so far gone under water.
It the total affected crop fields include 170 hectares in Kulaura and Juri upazilas of Moulvibazar district; 281 hectares in Nabiganj, Lakhai, Baniachang and Ajmiriganj upazilas of Habiganj district; and 3189 hectares in Shantiganj, Doarabazar, Jagannathpur, Jamalganj, Tahirpur, Dharmapasha, Chhatak, Derai, Shulla and Sadar upazilas of Sunamganj district. A DAE official said the croplands in the region have been damaged or inundated due to rains from 31 March to 6 April alongside rolling of water from the Indian state of Meghalaya. The major dream crop that they were supposed to get in the paddy fields after a few days is now under water.
Farmers are now trying to collect the submerged immature paddy from under water to feed cows and goats.
On the other hand, some are also hoping to get some rice by boiling the unripe paddy.
They viewed that if the haor areas get inundated due to waterlogging this way, the crops cannot be saved.
Farmers requested the government to take proper steps to protect the crops in the haor region through proper planning, water drainage and construction
of sluice gates in the future.
Farmer Jahangir Hossain of Islampur village said that there is no way for the water in the haor to come out. As there is no sluice gate in the embankment in the Astma area, the semi-ripe paddy has been submerged in rainwater in the haor.
The crop that was supposed to be harvested and brought home after a few days is now being harvested for cattle feed, he lamented, saying if there had been a sluice gate in the embankment, the rainwater would not have accumulated in the haor.
Abdul Hai of Shulla said, "There is no way; we cannot remain silent when we see the crop sinking before our eyes. The paddy that is being collected unripe would have matured if it had been harvested a few days later."
Deputy Director of the DAE, Sunamganj, Omar Faruk said this year, most of the farmers' paddy in various haors was submerged leaving many of them largely affected.
Sunamganj Deputy Commissioner Dr Mohammad Ilias Mia said waterlogging in the haors has submerged paddy of many farmers.
forsylhet@gmail.com