Madukhali (Faridpur) Correspondent :
Heavy rains have caused huge damage to the cultivation of pumpkin, pepper, cauliflower, cabbage, brinjal, papaya, banana, rice and other vegetables in Madhukhali upazila of Faridpur district. The damage was caused by four consecutive days of rain in the first week of October.
According to the information received from the office of the Directorate of Agricultural Extension of the upazila, various types of vegetables were cultivated on 2420 hectares of land in Madhukhali upazila, including 1 hectare of cauliflower, 0.5 hectare of cabbage, 6 hectare of sweet pumpkin, 1 hectare of cucumber, 0.5 hectare of bitter gourd, 1 hectare of papaya, 1 hectare of banana and 1 hectare of other vegetables have been damaged. The damage is expected to increase as the rain continues till Thursday night.
The farmer of Kuraniarchar village of Naopara union of the upazila. Akram Hossain said that this year I cultivated chillies and pumpkins on 40 percent of the land with a loan. Every tree had fruit. The tree rotted in the rain and died. I cultivated sweet pumpkin on 20 percent of the land as a companion crop to pepper. That tree is also dying in the rain.
The tree was bearing 100 to 120 peaches of sweet pumpkin which weighed about one to one and a half kilograms. When I picked them up in the field, I saw that they were all rotten. I spent about 50,000 taka on two crops in 40 percent of the land and sold only 12,000 taka worth of pepper, then all the pepper plants died due to continuous rain. I can’t figure out what to do now. I informed the matter to the sub-assistant agriculture officer of my area. There are fears that the vegetable fields may be completely destroyed if the rain continues. Not only this farmer of Naopara, but many farmers of 11 unions including Madhukhali municipal area are going to lose their crops due to recent rains.
Farmers of Raipur Union of Upazila on Thursday. Abdur Rahman said that due to continuous rains, 35 percent of the land is under water. If the seedling rots, it needs to be planted again. Abdul Alim, a pumpkin farmer of Ward No. 2 of the municipal headquarters, said that almost half of the pumpkins planted in Baikanthpur field have rotted due to heavy rains. The condition of the rest is not good. Big loss will be incurred this time.
Madhukhali raw market chief. AtiyarRahmanMolya said that due to the loss of crops due to continuous rains for several days, the raw market has been affected. Prices of all vegetables have increased. On Thursday, he bought green chilli wholesale for Rs 420 and onion wholesale for Rs 105. Due to the damage of vegetables in the rains, the prices of vegetables are on the upward trend due to the low import of vegetables in the market.