Protecting farmers from natural vagaries

Nilratan Halder | Published: April 27, 2023 20:20:19

This is peak Boro harvesting time. Farmers are busy gathering crops manually or in some places mowing with harvesters thanks to a late shift to mechanisation of agriculture. In fact, shortage of farm labourers has long been a problem during this non-traditional harvesting period marked by unpredictable foul weather, storms and lightning in particular. With the introduction of high yielding varieties of paddy, the entire cycle of cropping pattern has changed putting farmers to a test of both physical endurance and at risk of danger on account of soaring temperature of the high summer and storms accompanied with lightning.
No wonder, in some southern districts, farmers opt for cultivation of coarse varieties of paddy because it can be harvested 15-20 days earlier than Bri 28 and 29. The coarse varieties are priced at Tk100-150 less a maund (37.32 kilogram) than the finer varieties of paddy. But farmers want to avoid the natural hazards of heat, storm and lightning, the incidence of the last of which is showing an alarming rise. So an advantage of 15-20 days early harvesting makes a lot of difference in terms of protecting crops from damage and their physical exposure to the dreaded scorching heat, storms called Kalbaishakhi and even more dangerous lightning.
This is a fine example of adaptability to climate change. But the weather is increasingly becoming erratic and hostile and much as farmers may be adaptive, there is a limit to their resilience. Of late, lightning has become a cause for serious concern because of its frequencies and lethal strikes. If temperature rises by 1.0 degree Celsisus, the probability of lightning is triggered 12 per cent more. This year recorded the highest temperature ever in some areas of the country and true to the coefficient, lightning incidence rose unusually. On Sunday last, 11 people died from lightning strikes which also left three more people injured in six districts. The yearly toll on an average is 265.
Climate science has advanced quite appreciably but those who are at the helm of state affairs, particularly in powerful and advanced countries which incidentally are the worst polluters, have been maintaining a double standard in keeping the planet Earth cool. Small countries like Bangladesh, more particularly their farmers and labourers who have to toil in the open under the blazing sun, fish in turbulent rivers and seas and live in coastal areas, suffer more for no fault of their own. Life and livelihoods of vast numbers of human beings on the backyard of prosperous continents and nations are viciously threatened. The lightning bolts are coming down from the sky on unsuspecting farmers in open fields in Bangladesh and India along with other countries of the region.
Scientists warned of serious consequences if the rising temperature cannot be arrested to 1.5 degree Celsius above the pre-industrial level. The prediction is particularly dire for South Asian countries. Farmers in Bangladesh like their South Asian counterparts are to encounter what is called 'wet-bulb temperature'. It means the severe temperature will get wrapped in pockets like heat domes that killed about 2,000 people in Canada and on the other side of border in the USA.
So the twin problem of heat and lightning strikes are threatening lives and livelihoods of farmers in an unprecedented way. When the wet-bulb temperature takes effect, farmers can at least stay home or take shelter under trees but lightning strikes them often unannounced. Now, is there any protection against this heavenly shaft striking at a phenomenal speed?
Sure enough, there is lightning early warning system that can alert people of the danger of the approaching lightning in an area well before they can move to a safe shelter. In Odisha, India, the system has been quite effective to reduce casualties by 31 per cent so far. Odisha's State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA) in collaboration with other agencies has been working on lessening the damaging impacts of lightning strikes on life and property.
Bangladesh has, albeit belatedly, also initiated a move towards minimising the havoc lightning strikes wreak. The ministry of disaster management and relief has reportedly set about putting in place arresters which can protect lives of humans and other animals within 300 feet. The device is set up on top of a steel pole of 30 feet height. Already the arresters have been set up in seven upzalias of the 16 highly lightning-prone upazilas. The rest nine districts will be brought under the programme's coverage soon. However there is a plan to gradually bring all the 64 districts under its coverage.
In fact, a project for setting up arresters in 23 lightning-prone districts at a cost of Tk9.0 billion is waiting to be approved by the planning ministry. Then there is yet another programme of building lightning protection shelter in the areas more at risk of lightning strikes. The project were to cost Tk4.76 billion originally but it has long remained dormant and should be revived even if the cost goes up. Coordination between an early warning system and lightning protection shelter can be most helpful in bringing down death and destruction from lightning strikes. Farmers who feed the nation deserve this technological support.
nilratanhalder2000@yahoo.com