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IRRI-boro harvesting is going on in full swing in different districts including Moulvibazar, Madaripur, Narail, Gazipur and Manikganj, making the farmers happy as they get bumper production this year.
   Our Moulvibazar correspondent says, farmers have already harvested 70 per cent of the total crops.
   Abdul Hamid Mullah, deputy director of the Department of Agriculture Extension in Moulvibazar, said the production of paddy was satisfactory though the farmers faced various problems including natural calamities.
   According to the DAE, cultivation target of IRRI-boro in 7 upazilas of the district was fixed at 37 thousand 25 hectares of land. Farmers cultivated 39 thousand 900 hectares.
   The DAE office further said they took a massive programme to rehabilitate the flood-affected farmers.
   They supplied 369 tonnes seeds of BR-28 and BR-29 among the flood-affected farmers through the Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation.
   Though the harvest has not been completed, the DAE is expecting that one lakh 49 thousand 650 tonnes of paddy would be produced this year.
   The farmers of the district have been able to harvest boro crops from the low-lying lands this year, crops of which are treated as ‘chance crops’. Usually, crops from these lands are not harvested due to flood every year.
   Our Madaripur correspondent reports: Farmers in four upazilas of the district expect bumper production of IRRI-boro this season due to favourable weather and availability of adequate seeds during the cultivation period.
   Early varieties of boro paddy - Bridhan-28 and Bhojan - are ripening fast and farmers have started harvesting them in many places.
   After one week, deshi (local) boro harvesting will start in full swing. The farmers are happy to see the golden crop in abundance.
   The DAE office said 42,000 hectares of land were brought under boro cultivation this year with a production target of 1,45,000 tonnes of paddy in the district.
   Sayed Abdur Rob, deputy director of DAE in Madaripur, said bumper boro production is expected this season if natural calamity does not occur during harvesting.
   Irregular supply of electricity for irrigation and high price of fertilisers and pesticides in the beginning of boro season raised the production cost to some extent. But small shower at the end of March brought relief to the farmers, he pointed out.
   Farmers Shahadad Hossain, Halim Matbar, Enayet Kazi, Mizan Kazi of Laxmiganj, Eskandar Matbur of Mostafapur village and Jafar Kazi of Khakchhara village under sadar upazila said the yield is satisfactory but they are not getting fair price.
   At present boro paddy per maund (40 kg) is being sold at Tk 280 to Tk 290 in the markets of this district. The price might come down further when the harvesting will advance, it is feared.
   Many farmers invested money in boro cultivation selling cattle and taking loans from “village mahajans” at exorbitant rate of interest.
   Some farmers sold out standing boro crops at Tk 150 per maund, it is learnt. The DAE deputy director, Sayed Abdur Rob, told New Age that farmers have already reaped 40 per cent of IRRI-boro crop this season.
   Our Narail correspondent reports: A bumper yield of IRRI-boro paddy is expected this year in all the three upazilas of the district.
   It is expected that the boro will be harvested aplenty as farmers everywhere cultivated it in favourable weather and without any major pest attack.
   According to the DAE, Ufshi or high yielding variety was cultivated on 31,064 hectares of land with a production target of 1,05,617 tonnes while local variety on 1,001 hectares with the target of 1,741 tonnes.
   Our Gazipur correspondent adds: The cultivation of IRRI-boro in the district exceeded the target fixed by the DAE in the current season.
   According to sources, a target to cultivate boro paddy on 55,720 hectares was fixed initially, but 56,050 hectares, ufshi on 54,500 hectares and deshi on 1,550 hectares, have been cultivated in five upazilas of the district.
   As a result, the production is expected to be higher than the target fixed by the DAE.
   Abdus Sattar Mollah, deputy director of DAE in Gazipur, said they expect a bumper production as the farmers cultivated paddy timely and in favorable weather.
   Sources said, the production target rate was fixed at 3.40 tonnes per hectare for ufshi and 1.74 tonnes for deshi. By the measure, 1,84,008 tonnes of Ufshi and 2,784 tonnes of deshi will be produced.
   In some areas including Belai Beel, famous for boro production, and low laying areas, the harvesting has started.
   Our Manikganj correspondent adds: Farmers in different parts of the district have started cutting IRRI-boro paddy with appreciable enthusiasm.
   Farmers expect that the harvest and threshing of paddy would be complete in one month.
   The DAE sources said 44,494 hectares of land were cultivated in the district with a production of 1,44,600 tonnes.
   Some farmers said that the price of paddy in the local market has already declined as an impact of new harvest.
   At present per maund of paddy is being sold at Tk 300 to 320. On an average 15 maunds of paddy has been produced on a bigha of land.

Dealing a severe blow to the livelihood of thousands of people including boatmen, fisherman and cultivators, most of the rivers in Moulvibazar district as well as Sylhet division are being silted up.
   As a result, irrigation facilities to thousands of hectares of land, navigability of the waterways, natural breeding of fish resources and ecological balance have been affected.
   According to the local people, river vessels cannot ply on water ways of the region during the lean period due to loss of navigability of almost all the rivers and emergence of shoals at various points of the main rivers of Sylhet division like Surma, Kusiara and Manu.
   On the one hand, thousands of hectares remain fallow in the dry season for want of irrigation, flood water washes away standing crops from vast tract of land during monsoon in the region on the other.
   Flash flood is a recent phenomenon, which is created by sudden overflow of rivers following showers of rain or rush of water from upstream.
   According to local people, siltation of river is the main cause of flash flood in the region. Due to siltation the rivers cannot contain and carry much water. So after a heavy showers or onrush of upstream water, the rivers swell, inundating their banks.
   Siltation is a common problem of all the rivers, big or small, in four districts of Sylhet division.
   The main rivers, particularly the Manu and the Dhalai in Moulvibazar, the Surma and the Kusiara in Sylhet and Sunamganj districts, and the Khoai in Habiganj district have gathered heavy silt over the years and lost navigability.
   The small rivers the Juri, Fanai and Gopla in Moulvibazar, the Ratna, Sutki, Bizna, Sutang, Sunai, Karangi and the Bheramuhana in Habiganj, Painda, Surmato, Gowain, Sari, Jadukata, Bibiyana, Kalni, Sheola, Kangsa and Pyan in Sylhet and Sunamganj have also silted and dried-up at many points.
   In many places shoals have developed and the rivers have become narrow and shallow.
   The silting process has affected not only navigation of the region but also biodiversity and ecological balance, paving the way to big environmental disasters.
   As a consequence of decreasing navigability, the rive routes in the Sylhet region have been abandoned as the means of communication and transportation.
   The water vessels especially country boats which used to ply in the rivers even a decade ago are not seen now.
   The dying of rivers is also exerting its ominous impact on industry, business and agriculture. Business activities in many commercial hubs of the region including Athangiri, Adampur, Abdullahpur, Khagaura, Ajmiriganj, Inatganj, Nabiganj and Markuli are frequently disrupted.
   Most of the rivers in greater Sylhet division have their origin in India, which being an upper riparian country, built barrages on the course of different common rivers to control the flow of water.
   Due to construction of barrages in Indian part, Sylhet region are not getting sufficient water in dry season, but getting excess water in the rainy season.

About 16,800 employees of the Family Planning Department working in different districts of the country including Natore have not been receiving their salaries for over seven months.
   The stalemate was created following imposition of sanction on several projects of the family planning department by the Ministry of Finance and Planning.
   Most of the employees, who are not getting their salaries for over 7 months, are workers and supervisors of the family planning department.
   They have been working with the department for several years.
    They were to be paid salaries from the revenue budget from the year 2001.
   The family planning office sources here said 360 employees of the family planning department have been working in Natore.
   Of them, 140 employees were absorbed in the revenue sector.
   A total of 28,000 employees have been working in the family planning department all over the country.
   Forty per cent of them were absorbed in the revenue sector whi1e the remaining 16,800 employees are yet to get this facility.
   The 11,200 employees, who were included in the revenue sector, have been getting their salaries regularly.
   Akbar Ali Mridha, president of Bangladesh Family Planning Field Workers Association of Natore unit, said the non-absorbed employees have been passing their days in misery due to nonpayment of salaries.
   He urged the concerned authorities to take immediate steps for absorbing the remaining family planning employees in the revenue sector and paying them their salaries regularly.