Floodwaters from the Padma River have damaged vegetable crops across char areas of Paba upazila in Rajshahi, leaving farmers worried about recovering their investments.
Just a few days ago, the charlands in Alimganj and Kasba of Haripur Union were lush with pointed gourd, cucumber, bitter gourd, bottle gourd, cauliflower, cabbage and tomato fields.
But rising water from the Padma has submerged several plots. In some areas, water has reached waist level, while in others, crops have rotted after remaining underwater for days.
Some farmers are trying to drain water from their fields in a last-ditch effort to save the remaining crops, while others are uprooting plants that have already decayed.
During a recent visit to the affected areas, several vegetable fields were found submerged. Early varieties of cauliflower, cabbage and tomato plants had rotted, while pointed gourd, bitter gourd, bottle gourd and cucumber plants were also badly damaged.
Farmer Akbar Ali of Kasba was seen pulling out rotted pointed gourd plants from one of his plots.
He said floodwaters had damaged one bigha of pointed gourd, 10 katha of cucumber and five katha of ridge gourd.
“The pointed gourd plants have rotted and have to be pulled out,” he said.
“Even the pointed gourd plants that are still okay are now dying. If that's the case, then everything is finished.”
Farmers said water remained stagnant for around seven days in several plots in the Kasba char area, causing extensive damage to crops.
Farmer Md Nazrul Islam said nearly 10 katha of bitter gourd, 10 katha of cucumber, 10 katha of bottle gourd, 1.5 bighas of different varieties of cabbage, 15 katha of pointed gourd and five katha of tomatoes were damaged.
According to Nazrul, he had invested around Tk10,000 in tomatoes, Tk30,000 in pointed gourd, Tk10,000 in bitter gourd, Tk20,000 in cucumber, Tk15,000 in bottle gourd and Tk30,000-Tk35,000 in cabbage.
The losses have placed a heavy financial burden on him, he said.
Another farmer, Shahriar Rahman Russell, lost nearly 10,000 cauliflower and cabbage seedlings. Had the crops survived, he expected to sell them for Tk300,000-Tk350,000.
“We are farmers. We don't want any crops to be destroyed. We tried our best to save them. But it still wasn't possible,” Russell said.
Shamim Al Mamun, another pointed gourd farmer, said he had lost 15 katha of pointed gourd to the floodwaters, causing losses of at least Tk200,000.
He said the losses were particularly significant because this is the peak harvesting season for pointed gourd.
According to the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), the sudden flooding has affected crops on a total of 309.59 hectares of land in Paba, Bagha and Godagari upazilas of Rajshahi.
Of the affected land, 45.24 hectares are vegetables, 85.39 hectares black gram, 11.46 hectares transplanted Aman, 25 hectares transplanted Aus, 102 hectares turmeric, 25 hectares papaya, 10 hectares guava and 5.50 hectares summer onion seedbeds.
In Paba, 7.24 hectares of vegetables, 6.39 hectares of black gram and 0.46 hectares of transplanted Aman have been affected.
In Godagari, 10 hectares of vegetables, 17 hectares of black gram and 25 hectares of transplanted Aus were damaged.
Bagha has recorded the largest affected area, with 28 hectares of vegetables, 62 hectares of black gram, 11 hectares of transplanted Aman, 102 hectares of turmeric, 25 hectares of papaya, 10 hectares of guava and 5.50 hectares of summer onion seedbeds affected.
Zahurul Haque, sub-assistant agriculture officer of the Alimganj Block in Paba, visited the damaged fields in Kasba.
He said the char areas were inundated as water levels in the Padma rose due to upstream flows.
“As a result, various vegetables were partially damaged,” he said.
He added that farmers had managed to save around 60% of the crops by raising embankments and draining water from the fields.
A list of affected farmers is currently being prepared, he said, adding that farmers are also being advised on how to care for the damaged crops and save those that remain viable.
Mostafa Kamal Hossain, deputy director of the Rajshahi Department of Agricultural Extension, said crops had been damaged by flooding in areas along the Padma.
He said the administration would assist affected farmers and that an assessment of the damage was currently underway.
