Ainul Haque Royal, Dhaka: Boro paddy on at least 4,900 hectares of land in 14 haors (dry lakes) of Sunamganj were inundated due to the flash flood coming from India as of Saturday, according to the local agriculture extension department.
The market price of the lost boro paddy would be worth Tk 1,377 crore, according to an official of the local agriculture office.
383 hectares of boro paddy worth around Tk 107.66 crore were submersed until Friday.
“We calculated that around 4,900 hectares of boro land went under water due to the flash flood in the area as of Saturday,” Bimol Chandra Som, who oversees the government’s agricultural extension activities in Sunamganj, told the reporter on Saturday.
However, the actual amount of damage could be much higher than the estimate given by the government office, according to the farmers.
According to a government official, the flood protection embankments were breached at some places in the area on April 2, with water rushing through villages and washing away agro and livestock farms, mosques, educational institutions, graveyards and roads, said Bimol Chandra.
Farmers of 20 villages under three unions of Sunamganj Sadar upazila are affected heavily as their boro paddy is completely damaged in the flash flood.
Talking to the reporter, Bimol Chandra said that the flood water started receding and the farmer already harvested paddy from 568 hectares of farmland and it will continue smoothly unless further flood comes abruptly.
Responding to a query, he said around 110 hectares more land has been brought under the boro cultivation scheme against the target 2, 22, 675 hectares.
Such an upstream flash flood appears after every three or four years and washes everything of the people in the area, he said.
Building strong embankments at strategic places and properly dredging rivers, canals and all water bodies in the area will be the only way to get rid of the situation, the government official said.
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