Stagnant water hampers cultivation

Waterlogging disrupts crop cultivation on over a thousand acres of land in a shallow waterbody at Pashchimchak in between Ahmedpur and Raninagar unions in Pabna's Sujanagar upazila.

Farmers of the area used to cultivate paddy, onion and jute but most of them do not go for crop cultivation in last few years as stagnant water from the shallow waterbody of Gaznar Beel cannot be removed due to silting of the canals in the waterbody.

"I have 10/12 bighas of land in the beel area where I used to cultivate paddy and onion. But I am facing problem to cultivate the crops there as water hyacinth filled up the field due to stagnant water for the last few years," said Md Afzal Hossain, a local.

"After removing water hyacinth with difficulty, I have cultivated five bighas of land this year but early rain damaged most of the crops. Then I had to bear the cost of engaging more workers to bring the crop home, as there is no road to carry the crop from the waterbody area," Afzal said.

Freedom fighter Md Dalil Uddin Miah of Sayedpur village in Sujanagar upazila said, "Most of the farmers of the waterbody belong to Sayedpur village. Due to lack of dredging, most of the canals there have been silted up and it causes waterlogging in the crop fields. Many people also dig ponds in their land, adding to the problem."

Locals farmers demand digging of the canals for removing stagnant water and constructing roads for easy transporting of crops from the fields, he added.

Md Moynul Haque Sarkar, Sujanagar upazila agriculture officer, said most of the beel areas were brought under development projects earlier but Pashchimchak area located in the middle of the vast waterbody out of the facility.

Digging of the canals is needed to remove stagnant water from there, he said.

Contacted, lawmaker of Pabna-2 constituency Ahmed Firoz Kabir told The Daily Star, "A Tk 110-crore development project, including canal dredging to connect the waterbody with the river, has been submitted to the water resources ministry, seeking the ECNEC's approval."