Officials forecast
Around 18,000 thousand tonnes of aman rice might be damaged in the floods that have submerged 53,000 hectares of cropland in 12 districts.
About 1.20 lakh tonnes of rice could be produced on the transplanted and broadcast aman fields now under flood waters. About 15 percent of the possible yield will be damaged, Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) officials said yesterday.
They however said the damage will not have any significant negative impact on the country’s total agricultural production.
Nazrul Islam, director of Agriculture Information Services, said, “We have a target of producing around 1.20 crore tonnes of rice during this transplanted aman season (June-September). We have nearly reached the target. We will certainly be able to recover the flood damage through fresh cultivation soon after recession of flood waters.”
Contacted yesterday, Nazrul also said the DAE has a huge quantity of aman seeds in stock. These will be distributed among the affected farmers timely.
Meanwhile, the Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre (FFWC) said the situation in most of the flood-hit districts further improved yesterday but deteriorated in two.
The situation in Sylhet and Moulavibazar will further deteriorate today.
A bulletin issued by the FFWC said water level was above the danger level at eight observation points out of the 73 across the country, and it was near the red mark at 26 points.
The Kushiyara was flowing 140 cm above the red mark at Amalshid point at Sylhet and the Surma was 100cm above it at Kanaighat point. Both the rivers will rise further today.
The Padma, Meghna and Jamuna will continue to fall today.
Our Sirajganj correspondent reports: Aman paddy on 6,000 hectares has been submerged and over 11,000 houses have been damaged due to the flood.
District agriculture officials said 15-20 percent of the inundated crop will be damaged.
Four hundred tonnes of rice and Tk 9 lakh have been allocated for the flood-hit, and part of those was already distributed.
According to a report from our Shariatpur correspondent, 1,192 hectares of cropland have been inundated, causing damage to transplanted aman and vegetables.
The district administration has distributed 15 tonnes of rice among the flood-hit while the total allocation is 130 tonnes.
Over 30,000 people in three upazilas have been affected.
Our Faridpur correspondent reports: Floods have inundated over 385 hectares of cropland.
DAE officials in the district said around 35 percent of submerged Ropa Aman and 100 percent of vegetables might be damaged.
District administration sources said over 53,000 people of 10,720 families have been affected by floods. Houses of 90 families have been damaged completely and those of 1806 families damaged partially while 236 families are living at different flood-shelters.
Our Bogra correspondent says: Inundation of 770 hectares of croplands will reduce production of rice and other crops by about 2,600 tonnes, according to DAE officials.
Over 15,000 families have been affected by river erosion, said the district relief and rehabilitation officer.
Our Madaripur correspondent reports: A total of 550 hectares of croplands have been flooded.
Officials said 100 tonnes of rice has been allocated for the affected people, and around 19 tonnes already distributed.
Around 50,000 people of 17,825 families have become marooned.
