STAR REPORT

Torrential rainfall, rising pre‑monsoon water levels, lightning strikes during thunderstorms, and submerged fields have left farmers in the haors struggling to save the Boro paddy, the lifeline for millions in the region.

“Half of my paddy is submerged in the field. And the paddy I managed to harvest is rotting at home due to a lack of sunlight,” said Abdur Rahim of Nakdora village in Netrokona’s Kalmakanda upazila.

“Now it feels like ‘harvest or not?’. Both are equally distressing,” he added.

Jhontu Chandra Das, a farmer from Bhandabil Haor in Sunamganj’s Shalla upazila, said even farm workers are no longer interested in Nayanbhaga, a traditional system where farmers offer half the paddy to anyone who harvests it during a disaster.

The situation has worsened as excessive rainfall continues. Five rivers have crossed the pre‑monsoon danger level, flooding vast swathes of low‑lying areas and submerging thousands of hectares of farmland.

Low‑lying crop fields in all seven haor districts -- Sunamganj, Netrokona, Moulvibazar, Kishoreganj, Habiganj, Brahmanbaria, and Sylhet -- have been affected.

Contacted about government efforts to support haor farmers, Md Moniruzzaman, director of procurement at the Directorate General of Food, said a high‑level meeting was held yesterday. Food Secretary Abu Taher Md Masud Rana chaired the meeting, attended by deputy commissioners of the haor districts and officials from the Directorate General of Food.

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