ANWAR Hossain had come to a local rice mill with two maunds (80 kilograms) of paddy for his family’s consumption. He sat outside the mill as the power was out. The harvest has been good but Anwar is still worried about meeting the costs of one of his daughters’ marriage. Of the meagre amount of land he owns, he has pawned about 95 decimals for three years for Tk 70,000. ‘I really needed the money for my son. I have managed to pay only a third of the amount. And I was hoping that I would be able to make some money with the potato that I had planted before sowing the boro paddy but the weather was very wet you know. There was fog and even rain,’ he says.

   Anwar says erratic rainfall has been a constant worry for him for the last few years. ‘We are used to dry winters with may be one or two brief showers and that too very light and not much to damage the crops. And those showers were generally considered precursor to the setting in of winter proper. But recently, we have had rain a few times in the middle of the season preceded and followed by damp weather typical of the monsoons.’ The heavy fog and rains had apparently caused serious damage to the potatoes and although Anwar did not incur losses, it was not enough to make the substantial payment required for his land. ‘I have about a year and a half to make the payment after which I will be constantly hounded to actually handover the deeds of ownership.’

   This year Anwar has grown about 80 maunds of paddy on his remaining 100 decimals. He plans to sell about 30 maunds and keep the rest for his six-member family’s consumption. ‘The prices are still reasonable and I should be able to get by. Then if there is no floods in the monsoon I should be able to get a good crop next season, in which case I would be able to get back my piece of land.’

ZONE
   Lower Atrai Basin
   
   CHANGES
   * Changes in rainfall pattern (increased in monsoon and decreased in winter)
   * Increased temperatures in monsoon and winter
   * Humidity
   
   POTENTIAL IMPACTS
   * Flood
   * Drought
   * Sedimentation
   * Drying of water bodies and scarcity of fisheries