Ishwardi (Pabna) Correspondent :
For more than a month, the vegetable fields in Ishwardi are being destroyed due to the ongoing intense heatwave across the country. The temperature in Ishwardi fluctuates between 39 and 43.2 degrees Celsius. On April 30, the highest temperature ever recorded in Ishwardi was 43.2 degrees Celsius.
Vegetables like chichinga, dhundal, shrimp, brinjal, bitter gourd, tomato, cucumber and chilli have been severely affected by heat. The kitchen gardens are burning red and dying ultimately.
Farmers are in trouble with vegetable cultivation. You can’t save the trees even by irrigating the fields twice a day.
Farmers are worried about the production of vegetables. In the meantime, the import of summer vegetables in the market has decreased in the short term. Due to which the prices of various vegetables have increased.
A number of villages including Lakshikunda, Sahapur, Gargari, Char-Gargari, Awtapara, Muladuli and Karanimari in Ishwardi have been cultivating summer vegetables extensively for the past few years. But this year’s drought and fire have burnt the trees and discolored them.
Talking to the farmers on Monday (May 6), it is known that summer vegetables have been planted in most of the fields. A severe heat wave has started on the eve of harvest. This has affected the production. In most places, the vegetable plants have faded in the hot sun. Something is dead. The normal growth of the tree has decreased, the yield is not coming.
In some areas, vegetable plants like chichinga, dhundal, shrimp, brinjal, bitter gourd, tomato, cucumber, pepper and gourd are drying up. In some plants, the sap of the leaves is absorbed by a type of insect, causing the leaves to curl and die. Farmers are not able to work with pesticides and water to control these diseases.
Rabiul, a farmer of Bhadimari village, said that he has cultivated bitter gourd, jali pumpkin, gourd and brinjal on 40 percent of the land. The farmer said that the continuous fire and hot sun are not bearable for the vegetable plants.
The tree did not grow because it did not rain. On the other hand, gourd, jali kurma and brinjal trees are dying due to sun burn. Most of the trees are withered. I water it regularly, but if I water it in the morning it dries up before noon. Without rain, no tree will survive.
Muladuli farmer Azizul Haque said, I have never seen such heat in my life. Cultivated bhendi, cucumber and chilli plants are getting scorched by the sun.
The surrounding ponds have dried up. Bringing water from distant areas and giving it to the fields. But the trees are dying.
According to the Upazila Agriculture Extension Department, summer vegetables are now being cultivated.
However, the vegetable plants are at risk due to the current fire. Vegetable fields are getting destroyed. In addition to dying some trees are suffering from various diseases in summer. The main reason for this is intense heat wave.
Upazila Agriculture Officer Mita Sarkar said that the continuous intense burning is harmful for agriculture. The plants are not growing and some are dying. Rain is much needed. Rich farmers are irrigating every day at the expense of huge sums of money.