'SMALL mice have damaged almost half of my aman crop,’ says Dudumia Gazi, a 45-year-old farmer of village Mohazampur in Haimchar of Chandpur.

   When the saplings are planted in wetlands, these mice, locally known as ‘baitta edur’, attack the fresh leaves.

   ‘As the bud comes out, their attacks intensify, especially at night,’ says Dudumia. ‘During monsoon, rats, each weighing no less than a kilogram, attack the aush paddy. When the paddy field gets inundated, the rats swim in and eat up the buds and then the leaves.’

   ‘These big rats have damaged more than half of my wheat,’ says Abdul Hamid, another farmer. ‘They also damage coconut trees and betel leaves.’

   ‘Their attacks have increased in the past seven years, as floods have become an annual feature,’ says Nurul Islam, a resident. ‘Floods translate into displacement of large lizards and several species of snakes that consume mice and rats.’

   Infestation of rats and mice is not the only problem, though. ‘The attack of larvae, usually green and grey in colour, damages almost half of the chilli production,’ says Dudumia. ‘These larvae eat up not only the chilli but also the sprout.’

   ‘I spray huge of amounts of insecticide in the field but seemingly in vain as the attacks of insects intensify during summer,’ he adds. ‘The chilli yield has decreased, in monetary terms, to Tk 50,000 to Tk 5,000 per acre in the past three years,’ he says.

   ‘Five or six years ago we would spray one or two rounds of insecticide and pesticide in the chilli and paddy field, whereas now we have to use nearly double the amount of much higher priced insecticides,’ says Hamid. ‘The use insecticide and pesticide has increased fivefold in the past ten years,’ says Hamid.

   ‘The pesticide and chemical fertiliser are also washed into canals, ponds and rivers, resulting in displacement of many rare species of fish,’ says Nurul Islam.

   The use of insecticides has totally eradicated earthworms and frogs from the region.

   Birds and pigeons also die after eating grains mixed with pesticide and contaminated water from canals.

   ‘Because of high heat during summer, more than 80 per cent of the poultry in the region has perished in the past five years or more,’ says Hamid.

   ‘Last year, three of my cows died only within an hour shortly after coming back from the grazing the land with swollen bellies and convulsing,’ says Hamid.

   The local livestock officer came to the spot and said there was an outbreak of a virus. Subsequently, more than half of the livestock in the area perished within a very short time.

   The river Meghna has, meanwhile, become more ferocious than ever before. A stretch of four kilometres of land has been lost to river erosion in the past 4-5 years whereas in the previous 20 years only a stretch of 1-2 kilometres of land was lost.

   ‘The betel leaves have been seriously damaged by the sudden rainfalls in early Phalgun,’ Gazi adds.

   Over the last four years, a kind of green insect has been eating up the trunk of the betel trees, especially during summer.

ZONE
   Lower Meghna River Floodplain
   
   CHANGES
   * Changes in rainfall pattern (increased in monsoon and decreased in winter)
   * Increased temperatures in monsoon and winter
   * Humidity
   
   POTENTIAL IMPACTS
   * Flood
   * Salinity
   * Land erosion