MAZRA poka damaged half of my Boro crops, between planting and harvesting, from December to March this year,’ says farmer Mohfiz Pradhan of the village of Suvhonkordi, Matlab, Chandpur. Before the harvest, their attacks suddenly intensified. ‘They eat the cereal and leave the empty husk. I sprayed insecticide and pesticide four times on them but still lost half the harvest,’ Mohfiz adds.

   ‘In the past, around ten years ago, to prevent crops being attacked by insects, we used to set up branches of trees on the paddy fields. Many different kinds of birds used to flock around and sit on those branches eating the insects,’ Mohfiz recalls.

   According to Mohfiz, birds such as the parakeet (tiya), the magpie robin (doel), and the mynah (shalik), as well as water birds like the Dahuk, have decreased greatly in his area.

   ‘The yield of the Aman paddy has also decreased because of the mist that can now be found at night, even if daytime temperatures are high,’ says Mohfiz. The yield of the Aman paddy on 90 decimal land that Mohfiz owns has fallen from the range of 100 – 90 maunds to between 60 -70 maunds over the last decade.

   ‘During the seventies and the eighties, we would witness one flood in every five years but for the last sixteen years, the area has been flooded every year, with water overflowing from the Dhanaghoda River,’ says Shahidullah Pradhan, another farmer of Suvhonkordi.

   ‘I used to have hartaki, amloki, olive, coconut, mango and jackfruits trees,’ he says. ‘Most of them have now died because of the stagnant water from regular floods,’ added Shahidullah. Meanwhile, the intensity of droughts has also increased.

   ‘A long spell of cold wave with its heavy mist also intensified the damage to vegetables such as shim, carrot, puishak, lady’s finger as well as other winter crops,’ Shahidullah added.

ZONE
   Middle Meghna River Floodplain
   
   CHANGES
   * Changes in rainfall pattern
   * Increased temperatures in monsoon and winter
   * Increased humidity
   
   POTENTIAL IMPACTS
   * Increased intensity of floods
   * Riverbank erosion
   * Droughts