Flood damages standing Aus paddy in Rajshahi

RAJSHAHI, Sept 02: Farmers of all upazilas of the district are incurring a huge loss due to damage of standing paddy in their fields by the recent flood.
The worst flood affected upazilas are Bagmara and Puthia.
Farmers Mofiz Uddin and Rafiqul Islam of Bagmara said like every year they planted Aus paddy on ten bighas of land. But, the recent flood damaged all their standing paddy incurring about Tk 0.1m loss.
Merajul Islam of Puthia said he planted Aush paddy on one and a half bighas of the land but all the crops have been damaged by the flood.
Another farmer Sajedur Rahman said he also planted Aus paddy on several bighas of land but all those are now under floodwater.
According to a source of Agricultural Extension Department (AED) in Rajshahi, a total of 32,344 farmers have been affected by the flood in the district this year.
Aush paddy was cultivated on 50,970 hectares of land this year during the monsoon period of which paddy on 2,700 hectares of land has been damaged by the flood.
The total amount of damage due to the flood has been estimated at Tk 300 million (30 crore).
Deputy Director of DAE Shamsul Haque informed the flood caused a total damage of Tk 400 million of various crops including paddy in the district of which paddy amounting to Tk 308.9 million has been damaged affecting 32,000 farmers.