SUKANTA HALDER, JAYDUL ISLAM and DWOHA CHOWDHURY

Untimely rains, floods, and upstream water inflow have left thousands of Boro farmers in the haor belt reeling from crop losses and plunging paddy prices.

Many have been pushed into a cycle of debt they fear they cannot escape, compounded by worries over how to feed their families through the year.

According to the agriculture ministry, over 2.36 lakh farmers across seven haor districts have been affected. The districts are Sylhet, Sunamganj, Brahmanbaria, Habiganj, Moulvibazar, Netrokona, and Kishoreganj.

Boro, the dry-season irrigated rice crop planted from December to February and harvested from April to June, contributes almost 55 percent of Bangladesh’s annual rice output.

“Harvest is completed by the end of season every year. But this time, the damage occurred due to embankment failures and unusually heavy rainfall in April,” Md Salim Khan, additional secretary of the ministry’s extension wing, told The Daily Star.

Boro paddy on 49,073 hectares, or 11 percent of haor cropland, were destroyed, while 17.5 percent of the fields remains at risk, he said.

In the seven haor districts, Boro was cultivated on 4.55 lakh hectares, with 80 percent harvested so far, according to Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) data.

Officials said unofficial estimates suggest that in terms of money, the damage is Tk 1,047 crore.

Government officials said lists of affected farmers are being prepared, with emergency support expected to begin within days and continue for three months.

Nationally, acreage rose 3.29 percent year-on-year to 50.50 lakh hectares in FY2025-26, with production targeted at 2.24 crore tonnes. Production increased from 2.01 crore tonnes in FY22 to 2.13 crore tonnes

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