Crops in haor areas in peril, again!

In the last two years, farmers in haor areas had lost their boro crops to flash floods caused by heavy rain, followed up by onrush of water from the upstream. This year, water has again entered the paddy fields in 88 villages of Sunamganj's Tahirpur and Dhamapasha upazilas after part of the Naotana dyke along the Tanguar Haor had allegedly been cut by some local fishermen. And the damage can get much worse, as although the around 25-ft damaged part of the dyke was repaired, farmers fear that they might lose their boro crop on more than 7,000 hectares if it rained heavily later on as forecast has warned.

Many people living in the area depend fully on farming for their livelihood. They will have no means to survive and will have to rely on whatever aid they can expect to receive if their crops are damaged. This, as we have seen from past years, is not a good solution, especially because of widespread corruption and diversion of aid from those who need it to elsewhere.

From previous years it has also become clear that crops in the area are prone to being damaged during this time of year. What we don't understand is, despite knowing this, why the authorities either do not take any action beforehand to prevent such damage or takes them only after it is too late.

In any case, we hope the authorities will take notice of this and take pre-emptive measures in future. As for this year, they should inform farmers to prepare as best as they can and provide the aid necessary first, to prevent crop loss and second, to compensate for whatever loss there is.