Farmers worry as load shedding hampers Aman cultivation
Reza Mahmud :
Farmers are in acute sufferings to irrigate their Aman paddy fields due to heavy load shedding across the country.
They expressed anxiety of decreasing yielding of the rice for such difficulties.
The farmers have been forced to make use of irrigation pumps for their paddy saplings, in this Aman cultivation season though the last couple of days got sufficient rain but the overall rainfall is very poor against their demand.
The lack of sufficient rain amid the ongoing Aman season is forcing farmers to make use of irrigation pumps for their paddy saplings, driving up the overall production cost.
As per the Met office, after 16 percent below normal rainfall in June, the country saw a drier July as it registered 50.8 percent below normal rain, which forced many farmers to irrigate their fields to cultivate Aman paddy, the second largest rice crop in the country.
Farmers in different district alleged that they have failed to irrigate their Aman field as heavy load shedding made them sufferer widely.
“I have started two shallow pumps in two different directions of my Aman field.
But the acute load shedding makes me nearly mad that I failed to irrigate my fields,” said Aliar Hossain, a farmers in Dadpur village of Boalmari upazila of Faridpur district.
He said, “If we fail to get sufficient power supply, yielding of the rice must be decreased.”
The scenario is not only for Faridpur district but also almost every district in the country as the electricity supply is very poor in village areas across the country.
Our Kishorgonj Correspondent said that the paddy growers from the district have suffered widely as they failed to irrigate their fields due to the load shedding.
Our Sylhet office also said that the farmers of the district in severe pain as trying utmost to irrigate fields but load shedding created obstacles.
As per the sources, Sylhet district and city get 350 MW power against its demand of 550 MW.
It used to witness 5 to 6 hours load shedding everyday mostly in village area which made the farmers undone.
When contacted, Dr. Abdur Razzaque, Minister of Agriculture Ministry told The New Nation, “Farmers mostly rely on monsoon rains to grow paddy during the Aman season.
But this year low rainfall pushed them to irrigation using electricity.
But load shedding make them sufferer, we noticed it.”
Dr. Abdur Razzaque said also, “I have personally contacted the State Minister of Power and Energy Nasrul Hamid.
“The State Minister of Power and Energy has assured me of trying utmost to increase supply of power to irrigate the paddy fields,” the Agriculture Minister said.
The Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) said that it targeted to bring 59.33 lakh hectares of land under rice cultivation in the current Aman season.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC), said nearly one-third of the roughly 17 lakh irrigation pumps available, including state sponsored and private ones, have been started to provide supplementary irrigation.
According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) data, Aman rice production increased 3.12 per cent in the last fiscal year.
The BBS data also showed that 57,24,822 hectares of land were brought under Aman cultivation during the last season and the country produced 1,54,26,395 tonnes of rice in FY23, up 468,000 tonnes from the previous FY2021-22.
The country produced 1,49,58,390 tonnes of Aman rice from 57,20,127 hectares of land in FY2022.
The average yield was 2.69 tonnes per hectare in FY23 while it was 2.61 tonnes per hectare in FY22.
