After prolonged drought, rain brings relief to farmers of Sylhet-Sunamganj

SYLHET, Mar 17: Much coveted and prayed-for rain has renewed the hopes for achieving the govt. production target of Rabi crops-including the crucial Boro rice in Sylhet-Sunamganj region, reducing irrigation costs to a large extent and healing the soil that was cracked from prolonged drought.
Sunamganj farmers said most of them are dependent on the Boro crop, green seedlings of which have been turning reddish due to drought. After eagerly waiting for rain for about a month, and a special prayer session at Angulbhanga field in Sunamganj, the region has been finally witnessing pouring rainfall since Sunday.
The Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) has targeted Boro cultivation on over 490,000 hectares in Sylhet division, while 89,000 hectares were targeted for winter vegetables.
Mustard, potatoes, peanuts, corn, cucumber, gourd, beans and other vegetables are among the winter vegetables cultivated in the region.
Farmers Shamim Mia and Md Nowshar Mia are among the farmers who cultivated vegetables near the haor region in Lalpur village of Gourarang Union in Sunamganj Sadar. The FE asked them about the impact of rain while they were filling up sacks with fresh cucumbers picked from the fields. They said the rain will benefit their crops.
Ramzan Ali, a farmer from Lalpur village in Jamalganj Upazila, said that he is cultivating Boro paddy on six bighas of land. He said that the seedlings have been turning reddish and were getting damaged due to the lack of rain. The absence of rain has worried him, but now he hopes that the seedlings "will produce rice" as it has rained. NGO worker Sharif Ullah Chowdhury, who is also a successful farmer, said the soil of Boro paddy fields remained cracked for a long time due to lack of rain. "Now that it has rained, the crop will be good."
An official of the Water Development Board said the rain has been a blessing for the farmers. Any defects in the embankments that appear after the rain will be repaired quickly, he also said, adding no major cracks or collapses have been observed in the embankments.
Mohammad Omar Faruk, deputy director of Sunamganj, DAE, said, farmers were in great trouble due to the lack of rain for a long time. He added that some lands, especially those which could not be irrigated, had become cracked or puddles due to the situation.

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