Heavy rain and upstream flash floods inundated boro fields in Hakaluki wetlands, forcing farmers to cut unripe paddy early and leaving many households facing major losses and debt.
A night of heavy rain and flash floods from upstream hills has plunged farmers along the Hakaluki wetlands in northeastern Bangladesh into crisis, submerging vast stretches of boro paddy and wiping out livelihoods just as the crop was nearing harvest.
Among those hardest hit is Fedel Mia, a farmer from near the Boro Mosque area of Bhukshimail union in Kulaura upazila, whose 14 kias of boro land went under water after days of rain and runoff poured into the low-lying wetland basin.
“Everything I have is under water. The paddy is rotting before my eyes,” he said.
Fedel Mia said he had cultivated boro paddy on 14 kias of land this season. The entire field was submerged just as the crop had started forming grain.
“I will not get a single grain of rice,” he said. “Last year I harvested 150 maunds of paddy, which met all my family’s needs. Now I do not know what will happen.”
The father with six daughters and four sons, said he had invested his savings in the crop and also borrowed nearly 25,000 taka to finance cultivation. He is now deeply worried about how he will repay the loan.
“Not only is all my hard work gone, I am terrified thinking about how I will repay the loan,” he said. “I do not understand how I will manage with such a big family.”
He also alleged that despite the scale of the losses, there was no visible government assistance or any effective response on the ground.
According to local accounts, several hours of heavy rainfall lashed the area on Friday night, while water from upstream hill streams and rivers including the Juri, Kanthinala, Gogalichhara and Fanai flowed down into the haor basin. Water began entering the Ugla and Hasirdibi beels on Saturday morning and by midday large swathes of paddy fields had gone under. Although there was a brief sign that water levels might fall for a day, locals said the water started rising again.
Kulaura Upazila Agriculture Officer Muhammad Jasim Uddin said 8,704 hectares of boro paddy had been cultivated this year in Hakaluki wetlands and other low-lying parts of the upazila. Of that, around 500 bighas had already been inundated.
“If weather conditions improve, the water will recede quickly and crop losses may remain limited,” he said.
But conditions in the fields painted a more severe picture.
Farmers living along the wetland said they had been living in fear after days of storms, rain and hail. As water levels rose, many had been forced to cut unripe or half-ripe paddy early. Some were lifting the crop for cattle feed while others were wading into the water in a last effort to save what was floating away.
Local farmers said the wetland region remains highly vulnerable at this time of year to rainfall, upstream surges and early flooding. Any one of these can bring devastation to farming households, they said.
During a visit to the wetland area on Tuesday, large expanses of farmland could be seen submerged under water. In some places farmers were cutting paddy while standing in waist-deep water. Elsewhere they were struggling desperately to retrieve floating crops.
Defeated by the force of nature, many were left with little more than uncertainty and a fight for survival.
