PHOTO: STAR

OUR CORRESPONDENT, Pirojpur

Boro paddy yield in likely to fall to some extent in different upazilas of the district this year due to bad weather during the ongoing harvest period.

Meanwhile, crisis of farm labourers has added to the owes of the local farmers.

Farmers in different areas said they are facing serious trouble in harvesting their already ripe paddy in the field due to light storms accompanied by incessant rainfall for the last few days.

Growers in the region started harvesting Boro paddy around two weeks ago and expected to complete the yield within three weeks, but now it seems quite impossible to complete the process in time, they said.

“The weather was favourable at the beginning, but water kept entering his Boro field since the rain started couple of days ago,” said Animesh Halder of Chandkathi village in Nazirpur upazila.

Farmers said if ripe paddy is not harvested timely, storms lash most of the paddy sheaves to the ground.

“We do not have any other alternative option to harvest the ripe paddy as their entire area is facing serious labour crisis during the ongoing harvesting period,” another farmer Manotosh Halder said.

Due to acute crisis of labourers now one has to pay around Tk 1,000 to hire a farm worker, he said.

Meanwhile, farmers living in the low-lying areas of Nazirpur and Pirojpur Sadar upazila are the worst sufferers as paddy there ripens a bit late due to the wetland.

Pirojpur Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) Deputy Director Nazrul Islam Sikder said Boro harvest is being badly hampered due to the adverse weather for the last couple of days.

Only about 30 percent harvest has been completed so far.

Availability of harvester machines would have eased the trouble of the paddy growers as farmers in the area now have to depend on day labourers, he added. According to Pirojpur DAE, Boro has been cultivated on 32,396 hectares of land this year, compared to 26,070 hectares last year.