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Hope there, worry too
FROM PAGE 12
Mortuz Shikder, a farmer of Jadavpur village under Tangail’s Shakhipur upazila, has health safety concerns.
“Even if workers come, if anyone is infected, he will spread the virus among us,” he feared.
Around two-third of the labourers, who harvest Boro in Tangail, come from other districts, farmers and DAE officials said.
Yet, Deputy Director Abdur Razzak of Tangail DAE is hopeful that the harvest can be completed in time if the weather remains favourable.
Mofazzal Hossain, a sub-assistant agriculture officer at DAE’s Dhaka regional office, told The Daily Star on Saturday that harvest has been done on around 34 percent of the region’s total land where Boro was cultivated.
The work is yet to begin in many areas under the Dhaka region including Manikganj, where the activity will start from May 15.
Shajahan Ali Biswas, deputy director of Manikganj’s DAE informed that they distributed 26 combined harvesters and one reaper among the farmers.
These machines are also giving many farmers in Gopalganj district hope of getting their harvest done in time.
Samrat Hossain from Gopalganj Sadar upazila said he received assurance of getting a harvester from the local DAE office, when he requested for one.
Another farmer from Faridpur, Harun Mattabar, is hoping to find workers among those who returned to their village homes from outside the district.
In Faridpur region, which includes Faridpur, Gopalganj, Madaripur, Rajbari and Shariatpur, Boro harvest has begun from early May.
Of the six districts in the Barisal division, where harvest began last week, five do not have any farm-labour shortage. Only Barisal district, where Boro was cultivated in 49,068 hectares of land, needs workers, according to the regional DAE office.
Sources at the local administration and DAE office said around 10,000 workers are being brought to Barisal in phases from other districts.
Farmers in Jashore region, which includes Jhenaidah, Magura, Jashore, Chuadanga and Kushtia, are also worried due to the farm-labour shortage.
Farmhands usually become scarce during Ramadan, when Muslims observe fast from dawn to dusk, Boro growers said.
“I have cultivated Boro paddy in four bighas of land. I am facing difficulty in arranging labourers,” said Asman Ali Mollah, a farmer of Katlagari village in Jhenidah’s Sailkupa upazila.
DAE officials in the region said the local administrations will arrange transports to bring workers from other districts.
Around 12 combined harvesters have been arranged for this region, said Partha Pratim Shaha, additional director at the DAE in Jashore region, where Boro harvest began last week.
Agricultural machines have not reached all the areas in the Rajshahi region.
Nasir Uddin from Rajshahi district’s Tanore upazila said he did not get any harvester from the government yet.
He had managed to get only four out of 12 farmhands he needed for the Boro paddy harvest.
Sudhendra Nath Roy, additional director of Rajshahi regional DAE, said of the around five lakh labourers required for the region, about 3.5 lakh are already working in the fields.
Another 45,000 had gone to other districts including the haor areas for harvesting jobs, but are expected to return in a week or so, he said.
Sudhendra said 70 percent of Boro harvesting is complete in the Chalan Beel area of the region. In the rest of the Rajshahi division, 20 percent of Boro harvest has been completed.
DAE officials of Rajshahi said some 213 combined harvesters and 400 reapers may be provided this season.
Harvesting has begun in Rangpur region but yet to start in Dinajpur region. Farmers have not faced labour shortage in those areas yet.
In Cumilla region, Boro harvest has been somewhat delayed this year because of labour shortage due to the shutdown, said local DAE officials.
Farmers in Cumilla Sadar upazila complained of insufficient number of modern harvest machines distributed in their area.
Boro paddies have been cultivated in 5.90 lakh hectares of land in Dhaka region, 1.70 lakh hectares of land in Faridpur region, 1.25 lakh hectares in Barishal region, 4.01 lakh hectares in Jashore region, 3.53 lakh hectares in Rajshahi region, 5 lakh hectares in Rangpur region, 2.59 lakh hectares in Dinajpur region and 3.28 lakh hectares of land in Cumilla region, according to local and regional DAE data.
[Our Correspondents from Manikganj, Tangail, Barisal, Kushtia, Cumilla and Bagerhat, Faridpur, Rajshahi, Dinajpur contributed to the story]

Scientists
FROM PAGE 12
The images together represent the result of three years of observations that could be combined using special techniques. Together they are expected to help contribute towards observations from telescopes like Hubble and data from the Juno spacecraft to better understand our still mysterious, huge neighbour.
“The Gemini data were critical because they allowed us to probe deeply into Jupiter’s clouds on a regular schedule,” said Michael Wong of UC Berkeley.
The scientists used a technique called “lucky imaging”, Wong said, which sees scientists take a vast number of very short exposure images, but filters them so that only the sharpest images taken when Earth’s atmosphere is stable are used. That allowed the scientists to create images that “rival the view from space”, Wong said.