"Even a week ago, there were ponds filled with fish, vegetable fields, and farms filled with broiler chickens. There's nothing now.”
These are the words spoken by Md Mozammel Haque, a resident of Lohagara upazila of Chittagong.
“I have nothing left now,” he said on Saturday.
Md Mozammel is well known as a young entrepreneur in the area. Not only Mozammel, but many like him have been badly affected by the floods in the fisheries and agriculture sectors.
"Over 1,000 chickens have drowned in my boiler chicken farm in the devastating flood. More than Tk4 lakh worth of fish have gone into the flood waters. I also had a few vegetable fields. Those are completely ruined. The flood has completely derailed my life's course,” he said.
Across 13 upazilas and metropolitans in Chittagong, a total of 13,379 ponds and 126 fish enclosures have been inundation. The fisheries sector alone has incurred a staggering loss of Tk69.38 crore, Survey Officer of Chittagong District Fisheries Office Mahbubur Rahman said.
The agricultural and farming sectors were also not spared from this devastation.
Mahbubur Rahman also said: "Out of the upazilas of the district, Sitakunda and Fatikchhari upazilas have not suffered much damage to the fisheries sector. In all the remaining upazilas and metropolitan areas of the district, there has been a lot of damage to fish farming. Most of the damage was in Satkania, Lohagara and Chandanaish upazilas.”
Chandanaish upazila Fisheries Officer Mohammad Hasan Ahsanul Kabir said: "Fishes from 2,537 ponds have been washed away in the flood. Initially, the loss to the fisheries sector in this upazila, including infrastructure, is Tk2 crore. However, the damage could be aggravated.”
Sujat Kumar Chowdhury, assistant fisheries officer of Patiya upazila in Chittagong, said: "Fish from 4,000 ponds and fish farms have been washed away in Patiya upazila. It has caused a huge loss of money.”
Following a drastic fall in downpours since Thursday, the flood situation in Chittagong has improved further.
However, people in the flood-ravaged areas are facing growing suffering.
