Almost ripe paddy on 200 hectares of land on the bed of the nearly dead Sati river in Kaunia upazila of Rangpur has become flooded, much to the worry of the farmers.

Kaunia Upazila Agriculture Officer (UAO) under the Department of Agriculture Extension in Rangpur Shamimur Rahman said landless farmers cultivated Irri-Boro paddy on 1,200 hectares of land on the riverbed.

Abdul Hamid of Char Nazirdah village said he and other landless farmers have been living by cultivating paddy on the riverbed of Sati river as there is no water flow there.

They noticed on May 19 that the water level was rising alarmingly. “I cultivated BR-28 paddy on one acre of land this year, which is now under water,” Hamid added.

He gathered nearly 100kg of paddy from under the water, otherwise it would be damaged, Hamid added.

Water usually enters the river from July up to October, but it came early this year, said Rafiqul Islam of the village, adding that he cultivated paddy on one-and-half acres of land on the riverbed.

“I spent extra money for preventing neck blast disease and will become a beggar if I can't harvest the paddy properly,” said Abul Kashem of Uttar Sadi village. He borrowed Tk 25,000 for cultivating the paddy, he added.

Nearly 300 farmers of Dhumpara, Char-Chatura, Maya-Bazar, Bangla-Bazar Char, Uttar-Thakurdash Polimari, Char Nazirdah, Char Prannath, Uttar Sadi and Gopidanga villages, cultivated paddy on the 26 km long riverbed of the Sati river, he said.

Most farmers have harvested their paddy on the riverbed, the UAO said. Water flow in the river increased early this year due to heavy rainfall, he added.