Aman farmers fret as drought grips Panchagarh amid monsoon

Tetulia recorded no rainfall at all throughout last week, according to the local weather office

While several districts in southern Bangladesh are grappling with seasonal floods, the situation in the northern district of Panchagarh is quite the opposite. In the heart of the monsoon season, vast swathes of farmland are dry and cracked due to a severe lack of rain, leaving farmers anxious about their Aman paddy crops.

In previous years, by this time of the monsoon, rice seedlings were already being transplanted across Panchagarh, a district known for its food surplus. But this year, the usual rush to plant has been disrupted.

Farmers say there has been no significant rainfall for the past 20 days. While there have been occasional light showers, there has not been enough rain to flood or soften the fields. As a result, most farmers are unable to sow seedlings in their dry, cracked lands.

According to Jitendra Nath Roy, acting officer at the Tetulia weather office, the monsoon has remained inactive over the region.

“In the past week, Tetulia recorded zero millimetres of rainfall,” he said.

A visit to various parts of the district revealed a stark contrast to typical monsoon scenes. Fields that would normally be submerged in water by now are parched and barren.

Heatwaves and the continued lack of rain have caused the soil to crack. So far, most farmers have not been able to begin transplanting Aman seedlings. A few, however, are managing to plant in low-lying areas using irrigation.

“By this time last year, I had already transplanted my Aman seedlings. This year, there's no standing water, so I haven’t even been able to plough my land. If I miss the right planting window, there’s a risk of lower yields,” said Tasir Uddin, a farmer from Boshpara village in Boda Upazila.

Mojibur Rahman, another farmer from Balabhita village in the same Upazila, added: “The drought has created huge uncertainty for Aman cultivation. Without heavy rainfall, the fields have dried up. We can’t even plough properly. Meanwhile, the seedlings in the seedbeds are ready for transplanting.”

Farmer Aminul Islam, also from Balabhita, said: “The monsoon is nearly over, but we haven’t received the kind of rainfall we usually expect by this time. Even when clouds appear, they pass without giving any significant rain.”

“If there’s no heavy rain this week, we’ll have to start planting with irrigation, which will significantly raise our production costs.”

According to Abdul Matin, deputy director of the Department of Agricultural Extension in Panchagarh, the target for aman cultivation this season is 130,000 hectares of land, with a production goal of 355,374 tonnes of paddy.

On the lack of rain, Matin said: “There’s still enough time for aman cultivation. We’re hopeful that heavy rain will come in the next few days. Once that happens, full-scale planting will begin.”

Jitendra Nath Roy of the Tetulia weather office added: “There have been light, scattered showers across the district. But the forecast suggests there is a possibility of heavier rainfall in the coming week.”