The Boro farmers in Jhenaidah were disheartened when most of their seedbeds were more or less affected by severe cold wave and foggy weather in last one week. The tinny saplings started getting reddish in colour, drying up or the growth was suspended. It might hamper the Boro farming ion the season.
The Boro farmers in the district were also plying role in supplying the additional saplings to Chuadanga, Magura and a part of Jashore districts, said the farmers and the officials of the department of agricultural extension (DAE) in Jhenaidah.
Some farmers of villages Defolbaria and Dohijuri of Jhenaidah sadar upazila when contacted said they had produced seed beds on their plots to transplant the same on their land and sale the remaining saplings among the farmers in neighboring Chuadanga, Magura and Jashore districts at a better price. But their hope and aspiration were shattered when the dense fog with severe cold weave was prevailing for last couple of days.
They said the tinny saplings started getting in reddish in colour and started dying within a few days.
Further, the growth was almost stopped.
They said the field level DAE officials had advised them to cover the seedbeds with white colour polythene, provide irrigation on the plots and remove the fog in every early morning. Some of the well to do farmers had covered the plot with polythene, while major of them could not provide irrigation water as DAE officials had advised
Rahim Uddin and Moslem Sheikh, two farmers of Alamdanga area under Chuadanga when contacted at Dakbangla weekly bazer said they usually purchase seedbeds for the market every season to transplant the same on their Boro plots.
But the sapling was almost scarce this season as they were affected by dense fog and cold wave.
Many farmers like them purchase the sapling from Jhenaidah every season. Huge quantity of seedbeds is sold among other farmers that ensures a better profit for them said the farmers.
A source related to the office of the deputy director of DAE in Jhenaidah Khamarbari when contacted said the farmers in six upazilas of Jhenaidah had prepared Boro seedbeds on 20,514 hectares of seedbeds to meet their demand as well as to sale the same among the farmers of some of the nearby districts.
The aim of the seedbeds preparation was to produce 397,371 tones of rice on a total of 909,315 hectares of land in the season.
The farmers of Jhenaidah sadar upazila had produced Boro saplings on 5,990 hectares in Jhenaidah sadar, 900 hectares in Kaliganj, 108 hectares in Kotchandpur, 9,680 hectares in bordering Moheshpur, 3,810 hectares in Shailkupa nd remaining 30 hectares of land in Harinakundu upazila.
DAE Jhenaidah Khamarbari deputy director Asgar Ali when contacted admitted that huge Boro seedbeds were more or less affected by dense fog and cold wave in last few days in the district like elsewhere. To protect the seedbeds from probable affect, they had sent messages to the Boro farmers to take precautionary measures like covering the plots with white colour polythene, provide irrigation in the morning and remove the fog from the plot in every early morning.
The farmers who had followed the instructions, could save their seedbeds from the affect.
The DAE deputy director said the fog and cold wave could not affect enough when the farmers started caring the seedbeds to transplant the same of the plots as the bad weather was going on within a day or two.
