RANGPUR, Aug 5, 2020 (BSS) – The floods in two phases have damaged standing crops on 14,784 hectares of land causing production losses of 46,658 tonnes of crops worth Taka 174.28 crore this season in Rangpur agriculture region.
“The floods have affected 1,72,239 farmers of 29 upazilas in these districts by damaging their standing crops,” Additional Director of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) for Rangpur region Agriculturist Muhammad Ali told BSS today.
The flood-affected districts are Rangpur, Gaibandha, Kurigram, Lalmonirhat and Nilphamari in the region.
The first phase of the deluge totally damaged standing crops on 8,612 hectares of land causing production losses of 32,664 tonnes of crops worth Taka 104.83 crore affecting 82,412 farmers of 18 upazilas in four districts except Nilphamari.
The second phase of the flood totally damaged standing crops on 6,172 hectares of land causing production losses of 13,994 tonnes of crops worth Taka 69.45 crore in the region.
The two phases of the deluge damaged standing crops including Aman rice seedbeds, Transplanted Aman rice, Aush rice, vegetables, jute, ‘Till’, ‘Kawn’ green chilli, ‘Cheena’ and some other crops.
The floods have damaged seedbeds of Aman rice on 1,195.87 hectares of land causing losses to seedlings worth Taka 15.95 crore affecting 38,705 farmers in these districts.
The floods have caused production losses of 12,661 tonnes of Aush rice worth Taka 49.79 crore on 4,536 hectares of land affecting 39,120 farmers and 16,060 tonnes of vegetables worth Taka 35.50 crore on 1,111 hectares of land affecting 14,940 farmers.
The floods have caused production losses of 11,726 tonnes of jute worth Taka 107.42 crore on 5.596 hectares of land affecting 56,587 farmers and 380 tonnes of ‘Till’ worth Taka 2.69 crore on 302 hectares of land affecting 2,590 farmers.
The floods have caused production losses of 30.80 tonnes of ‘Kawn’ worth Taka 39.86 lakh on 20 hectares of land affecting 1,225 farmers and 544 tonnes of green chilli worth Taka 5.35 crore on 205 hectares of land affecting 1,920 farmers.
“The floods have also caused production losses of 212 tonnes of ‘Cheena’ worth Taka 1.37 crore on 140 hectares of land affecting 215 farmers and 17.50 tonnes of groundnut worth Taka 8.75 lakh on 10 hectares of land affecting 100 farmers,” Ali said.
Talking to BSS, farmers Joynal Abedin and Obaidur Rahman of Rajpur area in Sadar upazila of Lalmonirhat said the floods had damaged their growing Aman rice seedlings and other crops.
Similarly, farmers Hashem Ali and Abu Shams of Prodhanipara village and Fazlul Haque of Nayekerhat village of Nageshwari upazila in Kurigram said the floods damaged growing vegetables, Aman rice seedlings and other crops.
The government through the DAE and other agriculture related organisations has taken massive post-flood agri-rehabilitation programmes to assist flood-affected farmers in recouping crop losses in Rangpur agriculture region.
“The DAE has prepared Aman rice seedbeds on 221 acres of land, including 105 acres each in Kurigram and Gaibandha, five acres in Rangpur and three acres each in Lalmonirhat and Nilphamari in flood-hit areas at union and ward levels,” Ali said.
The produced Aman rice seedlings will be distributed among flood-affected farmers at their doorsteps free of costs for re-transplantation on their affected croplands.
“Besides, Aman rice seeds will be distributed among flood-hit farmers for broadcasting those on their croplands after August 15 next in case of a prolonged flood,” Ali said.
Besides, flood- affected farmers will cultivate late ‘Ganjia’ varieties of Aman rice using their own seeds, early varieties of vegetables, ‘mash kalai’, vegetables, maize and other crops on their affected croplands.