Netrokona’s uplands: Rain, labour shortage delay paddy harvest

While paddy harvesting in the haor regions of Netrokona has been completed, farmers in the district's non-haor areas are still facing severe difficulties due to equipment shortages, natural disasters, and lack of labour.

 The non-haor regions, make up of roughly 144,385 hectares of cultivated land.

Many farmers from villages in Sadar, Barhatta, and Purbadhala upazilas expressed concern to this newspaper during a visit on Thursday.

Fazlul Haque, a farmer from Uradighi village in Barhatta upazila, said the persistent rain had disrupted his harvest.

"Because of the rain, I couldn't harvest all my paddy. It's all ripe now. But there's a shortage of harvester machines. We can't find labourers either, and the few that are available are charging very high wages," he said.

Md Sekandar Ali, a farmer from Khatib Nagua village in Netrokona Sadar upazila, said two boys from their village were struck by lightning while fishing in the rain.

"Now the workers are afraid to go into the fields. And the rain just won't stop. Most of the harvesters have also moved to other areas," he added.

Mohammad Nuruzzaman, deputy director of the Netrokona District Department of Agricultural Extension, said Boro paddy was cultivated on 185,460 hectares in the district this season, and around 90 percent of it has already been harvested.

"The rest could have been harvested quickly, but due to rain and lightning, there has been some delay," he said.

He said out of 1,004 harvester machines in the district, 734 are currently operational. However, with fewer crops left in the fields, many machines have moved to nearby upland areas. As a result, farmers are having to rely on labourers, who are now demanding higher wages.

Netrokona has set a paddy production target of 1.262 million tonnes this season, with an estimated market value of over Tk 4,543 crore. However, due to natural disasters and a shortage of machinery, around 15 percent of the district's farmers may face financial losses.