Amdadul Haque
Farmers in the haor (wetland) areas of the country are worried over a timely harvesting of boro paddy because of a shortage of labourers, despite different measures taken by the government to ensure maximum crop yield. In the current coronavirus situation, everyone, including farmers and workers, is staying at home. Boro paddy is ready to be harvested all across Bangladesh with the start of Boishakh, the first month of the bengali new year. The harvest is now under threat due to the coronavirus pandemic.
During a recent visit to the haor areas, this correspondent found farmers almost prepared to harvest boro crops and some have already started. Farmers fear that if the golden crop cannot be harvested in time, the crops will go under flood water. The farmers of Sylhet are spending time fearing major losses. On the other hand, there is also a lack of advanced agricultural equipment. In all, suspicion has emerged this time of cutting boro paddy in the haor region.
“If we move to another part of the country, we might have to stay there even after the harvest period, as the pandemic may turn deadly in Bangladesh,” said Rinku Dash, a farm labourer from Moulvibazar. Meanwhile, the government has announced an allocation of Tk 100 crore to procure machinery for harvesting paddy so that a fewer number of labourers is required. The government has also planned to supply some harvesting machines to the farmers from its own stock.
However, such initiatives might not be sufficient as the government is mainly focusing on the haor areas, whereas there are many other districts which also produce boro paddy. Harvest of Boro paddy, the principal crop of the country, starts in the haor region in a week, in the Hakaluki haor area and in other parts of the country in May, agriculturists and farmers say.
Every year, farm labourers from different regions, particularly from Habiganj, Sunamganj, Kishoreganj, Naogaon, Bogura, Dinajpur, Tangail, Jashore, Cumilla, Sirajganj, Rangpur, Netrokona, Jamalpur, Gaibandha, Chandpur and other districts, go to the haor areas to harvest boro before flash floods inundate the area.
But this year, farmer Jobbar Ali from the haor area of Moulvibazar district's Juri upazila could not find any labourer with just a week left before the harvest of his boro paddy, cultivated on 70 acres of land. "No labour leader could assure me of anything. If I can't find labourers, the flood will wash away my paddy," he feared.
Shri Nibas Debnath, Additional Director of Sylhet regional office of the Department of Agriculture Extension said, “This time, there is no need to bring people from outside. There will be no labor crisis as thousands of rickshaw pullers, stone and tea workers are unemployed in this region. They have expressed interest in harvesting paddy.”
Farmers are terrified that they may lose the golden dream in premature flood. “Usually, haor boro paddy harvesting starts after April 15. At this time the rain also starts in Sylhet. Due to the rain and thunderstorms, the flood may come in advance,” Sylhet meteorologist Saeed Ahmed said. Avoiding the question of labor crisis, Deputy Director of Agriculture Extension Department of Moulvibazar, Kazi Lutful Bari said, all preparations have been made.
Imrul Islam, a farmer of Hakaluki haor area, cultivated boro paddy on 50 acres of land. He needs 25 labourers for seven days for harvesting his paddy in the middle of this month. "I am very worried. I have become tired of calling the labourers. None assured me of coming to work," he said.
Labourer Jolil Mia from Habiganj's Chunarughat wanted to go to Sunamganj for the harvesting but could not find any vehicle. Officials of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), however, said they are providing safe transportation to agricultural workers. Director General Md Abdul Muyeed of DAE informed that in the second week of April they had already transported around 200 labourers from Rangpur and Pabna to the haor areas of Sylhet following health safety measures by keeping them at a safe distance in buses and providing them with masks.
But Md Safar Uddin, DAE deputy director of Sunamganj district, said the initiative for transporting labourers from outside the Sylhet region was discouraged in a meeting on April 6 to stem the coronavirus spread. However, it was endorsed that the currently unemployed labourers of stone and sand quarries as well as coal labourers can be engaged in agricultural work, he added.
Farmers said they are uncertain whether labourers from other districts will be able to come to Hakaluki haor this year because of the lockdown. Mujibur Rahman, a farmer from Belagaon village in Juri, said that without labourers from outside Juri, it would not be possible to harvest the paddy in time. Due to the stop of communication, he was still unable to contact outside workers.
Due to the previous few years' experience of flooding, farmers in the haor areas have mostly cultivated advanced varieties of Boro paddy. The only purpose is to harvest the paddy before the flooding. The paddy in almost all the fields has started ripening. Local farmers also said, after only a week, they will start harvesting the paddy. After two weeks, the Baishakhi Nabanna festival in haor areas will start in full swing.
According to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) data, the country has a total of 165.63 lakh farmers. Of them, 78.62 percent are small and 6.83 percent are marginal farmers. The number of farm labourer families is 90.96 lakh, accounting for 25.6 percent of the 3.55 crore total households in Bangladesh. Rajshahi division accounts for 18 percent of total rice production, while Rangpur and Dhaka divisions each provide 17 percent, Mymensingh 14 percent, Khulna and Chattogram each 13 percent, Sylhet five percent and Barishal division three percent. Yet, DAE and Bangladesh Rice Research Institute officials are expecting a production of at least two crore tons of boro rice this year.