'THE early rainfall with hail and gusty winds damaged almost all my tomatoes,’ says Mustak Ahmed Mukul, a farmer of village Tanpara in Akhaura upazila of Brahmanbaria. ‘The average yield from 15 decimals of land in the previous five years was around 15 maunds; this year it has come down to 5-10 kilograms.’

   Meanwhile, virus infection has substantially stunted production of sweet potato, spinach and cabbage, chilli and okra. Moreover, extreme fluctuation of night and day temperatures has damaged boro saplings.

   ‘Cold injuries - mist at night and high temperatures during daytime - have hampered the growth of the buds in a paddy,’ says Dulal Mia, a farmer of the area. The whimsical weather has also told on the livestock.

   ‘I lost three cows last summer,’ says Mustak. ‘Each had convulsions for about half an hour and then dropped dead.’

   ‘The “unknown” disease, which breaks out both in warmer and colder patches of the year, has affected more than half of the livestock in the area,’ says Sheikh Jalaluddin, another farmer of the area.

   Irrigation has become a major headache for the farmers in area.

   ‘A tributary of the river Titas, around six kilometres off the Brahmanbaria-Akhaura, ran completely dry during winter, so it has over the past 15 years,’ says Shafiqul Islam, a resident of the area. The subsequent lack of water for irrigation translated into abysmally low yield of winter crops for Mustak from his 50 decimals of land near the river.

   ‘The prevalence of diarrhoea and dysentery has increased in the past five years but its impact has not been significant because treatment facilities are available nowadays,’ says Mustak.

   ‘The groundwater level has dropped down from the range of 65-70 feet to 100-110 feet in the past fifteen years,’ says Jalaluddin.

ZONE
   Akhaura Terrace
   
   CHANGES
   * Changes in rainfall pattern (increased in monsoon and decreased in winter)
   * Increased temperatures in monsoon and winter
   * Less moisture and increased evaporation
   * Humidity
   
   POTENTIAL IMPACTS
   * Flash Floods
   * Sedimentation