Due to the untimely increase in the water of Jamuna River, the crops of thousands of acres of grazing land in Pabna district have been submerged under water, new crops are being flooded every day, the farmers of the grazing area have faced extreme losses. Talking to the affected farmers and visiting the pastures, such a picture emerged.
Locals in the area said that the water level of the Jamuna river has suddenly increased in a few days due to the hill slopes coming down from the upstream. As the water continues to rise every day, the newly planted 4000 bighas of pulses and various vegetable fields in Pabna’s Bara Upazila along with the river bank areas of the char areas have been submerged under water. It has been reported that the small and marginal farmers of Char area have suffered huge losses.
The farmers of Charpechakola, Charnakalia, Hatail, Ahalia, Charbengalia, Charsandashia, Charghiur, Charnagdah, Charsafulla, Charpaikhand, Nayanpur, Pechakola Mauza of about 20 areas of the Upazila are in trouble. Due to the increase in the water of Jamuna, the farmers of Char region said that Black gram (Mashkalai) is the main cash crop of our Char region people, but due to submergence of water, the crops in the current season this year have become uncertain. The farmers of the Char region have become bewildered and disoriented by this thought.
Sattar Bepari, a farmer of Charsandashia village, said that in the last four to five days, at least 600 bighas of black gram crops have been submerged due to the rise of 3-4 feet of water in Charnakalia, Charbengalia and Charsandashia Mauza. Aziz Molla of Charnakalia village said, a few days ago I sowed black gram seeds on 24 bigha land. In a span of three days, his 22 bigha of crop field was submerged.
Quddus Patwari of Charnagdah village said, I cultivated chilli, red cabbage and radish on 10 bigha of land and 4 bigha of black gram but all the crops were drowned due to untimely rise of Jamuna river water. Ujjal Sandel of Charsandashia village said, "Four days ago, I sowed black gram seeds on 10 bigha of land and suddenly everything got submerged in water, so I lost everything. Ilyas Molla of Charghiur village said, "I planted pulses on 10 bigha of land this year, which sold and got about 2 lakh Tk. But due to the sudden increase in the water in the Jamuna, all the crops were drowned and my dream was shattered.
Regarding the submergence of arable land due to the sudden rise in the water of the Jamuna river, Bara Upazila Agriculture Officer Nusrat Kabir said that recently, due to the rise in the water in the Yamuna river, about 205 hectares of crops and other crops have been submerged in the Upazila’s grazing area. Even if the newly germinated black gram seeds are destroyed, if the water recedes within 2-3 days, the crop plants sown a few days earlier will be saved, but if the water does not decrease quickly and the crop plants will be damaged due to being under water for a long time, as a result, there is no possibility of harvesting. In this situation, the possibility of loss to farmers is high.
