Heatwave deals agriculture, fisheries a fatal blow

KHULNA, Apr 29: The current hot spell entire Bangladesh now reels under is wrecking massive havoc to the fisheries, agricultural sectors of the southwestern region.
Insiders said the prevailing heatwave has brought those involved in the two sectors to their knees causing a staggering loss of Tk 100 billion (Tk 1000 crore).
Shrimp production has come down to 50 per cent due to the continuous hot weather prevailing over last one month.
The region has not seen even a day's rainfall since the summer started; while in some areas, there was not a splash of rain.
Boro paddy and watermelon fields lie scorched in the drought-like environment and blazing summer heat, leaving farmers depressed about yields.
Several thousand shrimp enclosures have dried up for want of sufficient supply of water. At the same time, tens of thousands of people in the coastal region are suffering badly for an acute shortage of drinking water during the hot spell. Uma Sankor Roy of Katianagla village in Batiaghata upazila, who has cultivated Boro paddy on four bighas of land, cannot irrigate his fields properly for want of water amid the sweltering heat. He tried to use water from his shrimp enclosure but he could not do so as the enclosure dried up.
Over two lakh farmers like Uma Sankor in the region have been suffering for scarcity of water caused by the absence of rain, said sources at the local Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) office.
Md A Azad, a senior official at the Khulna regional Meteorology office, told The Financial Express that less rainfall was forecasted in Bangladesh this year, which is apparently an impact of global climate change.
Local sources said that due to scarcity of water shrimp fry are dying in enclosures in the region. Shrimp cultivators are passing days in grave concern as they released shrimp fry worth about Tk1.0 billion (Tk100 crore) this season.
Meanwhile, shrimp fry and other fish fry worth about Tk2.0 billion (Tk200 crore) have perished in extreme heat in Khulna, Jashore, Bagerhat and Satkhira districts of the region.
The cultivators apprehend that shrimp fry worth Tk1.0 billion more will die if there is now rain immediately.
Many cultivators are using water from deep tube-wells. Farmers fear to incur majority of loss from prone farms.
According to the Fisheries Department, 55 per cent prone and 45 per cent lobster grow in Khulna region.
Farmers expect that production of prone will rise 20 per cent this year than the previous years.
Many people fear that the southwestern region will face a massive loss in fish and agriculture production this year.
Extreme heat is hampering reproduction and growth of fish and crops; as a result, it is apprehended that the country will suffer a loss of Tk11-12 billion (Tk1100-1200 crore) from these two sectors in the southwestern region this year.
Again, the region is apprehended to incur a loss of Tk5-6 billion (Tk500-600 crore) in cultivation of jute, Aush paddy, and other cash crops during the current summer for the prevailing hot spell.

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