100% paddy harvesting completed in Sylhet haors

S A Shofiee, Sylhet:
Cent percent harvesting of Boro paddy has been completed in the haor areas and 53 per cent in non-haor areas in the Sylhet region.

This season witnessed a bumper yield of paddy as the weather was favourable for harvesting.

Additional Director of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), Sylhet Region, Md Mosharraf Hossain said farmers had started paddy harvesting in this region this year with the fear of floods.

“However, they (farmers) have been able to safely harvest their crops overcoming the fear of that natural calamity. The yield of the paddy in the haors this year has also been comparatively higher than last year,” he said.

Besides, 53 per cent of paddy in the non-haor (plain land) area has so far been harvested, Mosharraf said.

He hoped that it would be possible to safely harvest cent per cent paddy in the non-haor areas by May 15 since there is no forecast of inclement weather by this time.

According to DAE officials, this year, Boro paddy has been cultivated on 276,803 hectares of land in the haor areas and on 220,416 hectares in the plain land in the four districts under the Sylhet division.

Sunamganj District Training Officer Mustafa Kamal Azad said that the pace of paddy harvesting slowed down slightly due to rain and thunderstorms in the last week of April. But paddy harvesting is in full swing in Sunamganj this week, he added.

Azad said that paddy is being harvested in Sunamganj with the help of about 700 combined harvesters. Apart from that more than 150,000 farmers and workers are busy harvesting paddy, he added.

In the meantime, farmers have completed 100 per cent paddy harvesting in haors. In non-haors too, the paddy harvesting rate in Sunamganj is about 60 per cent. He hopes that all paddy harvesting in Sunamganj will be completed within the next week.

The official hoped that cent-per-cent harvesting in Sunamganj would be completed by next week.