Boro harvest completely swing in Sylhet’s haor
Farmers have previously harvested about 25 per cent of the boro paddy sown in haor regions of Sylhet despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Besides, the region's vast haor tract has produced good yields, much to the delight of locals. Farmers commenced to harvest paddy as soon as possible this year in anticipation of natural calamities that could devastate their crops.
Six large haor areas in Moulvibazar were brought under cultivation this season with an aim to produce 218,022 tonnes of paddy, in line with the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) office in Sylhet.
In Sunamganj, the crop was cultivated on 223,330 hectares of land with a production target of 885,299 tonnes.
Similarly, 122,130 hectares of land in 54 haors were cultivated in Habiganj to create 518,151 tonnes of rice.
During a visit to paddy fields in the Hakaluki haor areas, it had been seen that farmers were passing busy times in reaping and storing the paddy from dawn to dusk.
"Suitable climate conditions alongside frequent rainfall during the growing season gave farmers hope to getting their desired production," said Mahfuz Hamid, administrator of the Kulaura Problem Prospect Facebook group.
The group works in the vicinity to fix different social and economical problems and raise awareness on different issues.
Now is time for you to harvest paddy therefore, farms are bustling with activity to complete the job in due time, he said.
"We are raising awareness among local farmers to harvest boro paddy as fast as possible this season," Hamid added.
Farmers are also quite happy with the existing price of boro paddy, resulting in increased cultivation and employment opportunities for locals, he said.
Md Abdul Momin, agriculture officer of Kulaura upazila, told this correspondent that a favourable climate, quality seeds, proper make use of fertiliser, monitoring and advice from field-level employees are the primary known reasons for this year's bumper production.
"The damage caused by the recent storm was very little," he said, adding that they first cut an example of the grain to estimate the full total harvest.
If its raw moisture content is 23 %, humidity in dry condition is 14 %, raw weight per hectare is 7.25 tonnes and dry weight per hectare is 6.49 tonnes, then each hectare will produce about 4.28 tonnes of rice.
"We are announcing every single area for harvesting boro paddy quickly," Momin said.
Nurul Mia of Mirshankar village said he is anxious about whether he will get the proper price for his produce.
Siddeq Ali, a farmer of Halla area in Barlekha upazila of Moulvibazar, said an acute labour crisis prevails in your community as the government has enforced a countrywide lockdown in a bid to curb the spread of Covid-19.
The general public transport system has also been shut down, producing a scarcity of workers to help farmers harvest paddy in the haors.
"It has raised labour costs," Ali said.
"So, we must spend more money to control farmhands for harvesting crops," he added.
Bimol Das, a haor farmer of Bhusimoil area under Kulaura upazila, said farmers are engaging even their schoolgoing children to harvest their paddy prior to the arrival of the upcoming nor'westers and hail-storm.
"This natural calamity may occur anytime and damage the crops," Das added.
Dilip Kumar Adhikari, additional director of the DAE office in Sylhet, said there might be a bumper paddy harvest this season thanks to the many government initiatives and favourable weather conditions.
Boro paddy was cultivated on 483,703 hectares of land in 424 haor areas under four districts of Sylhet division this year with a production target of just one 1.934 million tonnes of rice.
Over 25 per cent of these lands have been completely harvested while rest will be harvested within a short period of time.
Since the paddy could possibly be damaged by natural calamities, farmers have already been asked to cut ripe crops early so as to avoid the whole harvest from being lost, Adhikari added.
