'DUE to irregular rainfall every year and random flood growing rice has become a big risk, more and more farmers are giving up their lands to industrialists building mostly spinning mills and other industries,’ says Afazuddin.

   It is not much of a problem for farmers who own large amounts of land, he says, ‘But small farmers like me have small land holdings and if the crop fails, we are ruined in one harvest’.

   Afazuddin cultivates rice on 64 decimals of his land, and vegetables like green chili, potato, eggplant, radish and many types of spinach on the rest of his land. He says that he collects on an average of 70 maunds of rice (Boro and Aman) each year and this crop production has seen a downward trend in the last five years. This production is not sufficient to feed his family and he has to buy an extra 130 kilograms of rice every year.

   This is due to dearth of water for irrigation during summer, irregular rainfall in monsoon causing rice diseases, and excessive rainfall in many occasions causing knee-high water stagnation in the paddy field, which destroys the base of the Boro crop during Baisakh-Jaishtha (April-May) months and Amon crop during Ashwin-Kartik (September-October) months of the Bangla calendar according to Afazuddin. Moreover, untimely hailstorms damage the rice completely, which is a big blow for the farmers.

   ‘The winters have become unpredictable in the last five years as they do not provide the chill and shiver like before which is the main ingredient for winter vegetables like cauliflower, cabbage, while at times, unpredictable and excessive fog destroys those crops,’ Afazuddin added.

    ‘Many of the farmers switched to fish farming (mainly carp) or selling their lands to industrialists, which is more profitable but overall rice production is shrinking, which is our staple food. This is causing the rice shortage’.

ZONE
   Madhupur Tract
   
   CHANGES
   * Rainfall Pattern Change (increased in monsoon and decrease in winter seasons)
   * Increased temperatures in monsoon and winter
   * Less moisture and increased evaporation and drought
   * Humidity
   
   POTENTIAL IMPACTS
   * Flood
   * Drought