Boro farmers incur TK 8.7cr loss due to recent heatwave, DAE estimates

The Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) has primarily estimated that boro farmers incurred a Tk 8.7 crore losses due to the recent heatwave on the croplands mostly in the northern region of the country.

Around 52,000 hectares of lands were affected in 16 districts by the heat shock, which will cut the rice production by 24,000 metric tonnes, the DAE believes.

The affected districts are Kishoreganj, Netrokona, Jamalpur, Gaibandha, Brahmanbara, Cumilla, Naogoan, Kurigram, Narsingdi, Mymensingh, Noakhali, Sherpur, Sirajganj, Norail, Jheniah and Khulna.

DAE officials said that they were still working on the issue to finalize the assessment.

Apart from boro paddy, the heat shock, to some extent, has also affected other standing crops including maize, groundnuts, vegetables, sunflower and banana, they said.

Boro is the largest cereal crop in Bangladesh in production volume as the crop grows on 48 lakh hectares of land across the country.

About 200 lakh tonnes of rice is produced from the paddy annually, said the officials.

“The final yield of the crop can be decreased by 45 per cent due to the heat shock,” said Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University’s Agronomy professor Dr Abdullahil Baque.

As the heatwave affected the standing boro crops which remained in the flowering stages, so it would cause a huge amount of “sterility”, he said.

“The loss will depend on the crop variety, tolerance ability, cultivation method, management system and temperature,” he told the Business Insider Bangladesh.

The noted agronomist suggested that sufficient water (level of 2-3 inches) should be kept in the boro crop fields until rice grains become strong.

Besides, to protect the crops from BLB or BLS and blast disease, he suggested farmers use MOP fertilizer and mixed medicines or fungicide on the boro fields which were yet to reach the flowering stage.

DAE director general Md Asadullah told the Business Insider Bangladesh that they visited the affected croplands in the hoar belt and found that the heatwave caused small damage in crop cultivation.

He, however, said that the affected farmers would get assistance to grow new crops after the final assessment of their damages.

“For individual farmers, however, it is a big loss,” he said.

Farmer Rafiqul Miah of Satgoan village at Khaliajuri Upazila of Netrokona told Business Insider Bangladesh on Friday that his three acres of boro croplands supposed to grow 200 maunds of rice had been damaged by the heatwave.

“I had to pay hard labour and spend an amount of cash to grow the crop,” he said, adding that he borrowed Tk 8,000 from local Sonali Bank but did not repay the loan due to the loss.

The farmer urged the government to relieve him from the loan payment.

Like Rafiqul, many boro growers are now facing the same challenges as their crops were severely affected by the heat shock. Al Helal Akand and Delwar Hossain Akand from the district are the two out of thousands of farmers across the country, who stated the same.

They said that their main crop boro damaged by the heatwave made worries for them.

The affected farmer appeals to the government to provide them financial support immediately