Farmers Affected by Floods and Corona in Gazipur, Bangladesh is Disoriented
By Zeba Tarannum
Farmers affected by the Corona and floods in Gazipur are worried. The crops they have grown in the last three months have been far from profitable.
There is no crop in the cropland even after spending millions of taka; only the loft is left. They can’t even think of growing new crops.
Floods and waterlogging have shattered farmers’ dreams. The effects of the coronavirus are not ending.
But farmers are still worried about how to overcome this loss and how to plant the next crop. Bheramtali village is located at the cross border Upazila headquarters of Gazipur, Kaliakair, and Sreepur.
Manjurul Islam, a farmer in the village, said he had lost TK 70,000 by growing seasonal crops due to floods and Corona. Farmer Sadequr Rahman said he planted snake gourd, sponge gourd, bottle gourd, jute leaves, and banana of 1.70 acres land before the monsoon’s onset season.
He has taken a loan of Tk 10,000 from the Landlord for every 35 decimals of land. It has cost him about Tk 6 lakh to grow the crop. He has also borrowed that money from different people. But this time, all his crops have been destroyed due to heavy rains and floodwaters. Now he is worried about repaying the loan.
Sadekur Rahman cultivated sponge gourd and snake gourd on 80 decimals of land. The harvest began to come but did not get the right price because of the coronavirus, and because of the virus’s impact, the wholesalers could not come to the market of the area due to various obstacles.
Those who came also did not pay a fair price for the product. They were forced to sell agricultural products at a much lower price than the cost of production.
A week after the sale, heavy rains, floods, and waterlogging occurred. So the land could not be the harvest. On the other hand, even if the crop, As a result, they did not harvest from the ground by spending more money.
Farmer Azim Uddin said he planted Sabari banana plantation on 35 decimals of land with a rented land loan. Everything ruin in the water. Now he is facing a loss of around Taka two lakh. Banana cultivation was his only resource, so he was worried about growing the next crop.
Mahbub Alam, Deputy Director, Gazipur District Agriculture Extension Department, said, The area under seasonal vegetable cultivation in Gazipur district is76,242 hectares. This time most of the crops have been destroyed due to floods and waterlogging.
He added that work is underway to compile a list of affected farmers at the field level. Apart from collecting the list, seeds, fertilizers, fences, and signboards have been provided to 1,408 affected agricultural families to grow new crops.
Vegetable incentives have given to 1,550 families, and black gram has given to 600 families. However, these have been offered under different exhibitions.
Mahbub Alam said farmers could take agricultural loans from local banks on easy terms if they need it. In this case, the Department of Agriculture will help the farmers.
