Severe heat wave causes extensive crop damage

Standing boro crops on around 30 kathas of land owned by farmer Taimur of Doulatpur village in Netrokona’s Madan Upazila have been severely ruined by a sudden heat wave.

The destruction of the crops has shattered his dream of bumper rice production.

“The severe weather burned out the boro crops in the area,” Taimur told the Business Insider Bangladesh.

“This is the flowering season. My crops were growing better this year. I expected to harvest about 200 maund of boro paddy,” he said.

Boro cultivation needs hard-fought labour and its production cost is also high, according to Taimur.

Taimur sought the immediate financial support from the government to help the farmers make up losses.

Like Taimur, hundreds of thousands of farmers in the haor areas hit hardest by the extreme heat wave have been facing huge losses.

The heat wave swept for several hours on Sunday afternoon, damaging acreage of boro croplands.

“At least 14, 000 hectors of the standing Boro have been fully damaged by the recent heat wave in the areas, particularly in the haor belt,” Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) Director General Md Asadullah told the Business Insider Bangladesh on Wednesday.

The boro cultivation has exceeded the government’s target this year, meaning that the country will see the bumbler production, according to the official.

The situation has worried the government, prompting it to take measures required to get the farmers out of the problems.

The affected farmers would be provided financial assistance to help them withstand the extreme weather, said the DAE director general who is now visiting the hoar areas. A team of the Agriculture Ministry accompanied him.

Agriculture experts said the boro cropland damage in the haor belt would leave a negative impact on the overall rice production.

About 48 lakh hectares of cropland were brought under boro cultivation across the country this year. Of them, haor belt covered about 4.5 lakh hectares, according to the DAE.