At least 98 per cent of the paddy in the haors of the seven districts of the country has reached the houses of the farmers. And the remaining two per cent of the paddy are scattered. It will take another week to harvest the paddy.
After that, 100 per cent of the paddy in the haor will be harvested by the farmers. Top officials of the Ministry of Agriculture are hoping that the target set for the production of boro paddy in the seven haor-bound districts of the country will be met.
Both the government and the farmers were very worried about the paddy in the haor. Due to coronavirus and lockdown, rice harvesting workers will not be able to come from outside the district.
Farmers and officials of the Ministry of Agriculture have been worried about whether the paddy in the haor will go to waste or whether the paddy will be submerged in the sudden floods. This paddy accounts for 20 per cent of the total production of the country.
However, the Ministry of Agriculture succeeded in getting 100 per cent of the paddy in the haor to the farmers. This is because the Ministry of Agriculture and the Department of Agricultural Extension have brought workers from different parts of the country to harvest the paddy and supplied rice harvesting machines to different districts of haor.
Officials of the ministry and the department have been working day and night to take the paddy from the haor to the farmers’ houses.
Jabbar Mia, a farmer from Netrokona's haor area, said, “This time I have taken all the paddy from the haor home. During the ripening of paddy, the Ministry of Agriculture has recruited workers from different districts.
Besides, adequate equipment has been provided to all the districts of haor. That is why we were able to bring the rice home very quickly. Not only that, I also got good price for rice in advance.”
Nasiruzzaman, secretary of the agriculture ministry said, “98 per cent of the paddy harvest in the haor had been completed by Saturday evening.
The remaining two parts of paddy are scattered. Some of them have planted local varieties, some have planted upasi and some have planted boro. It will take another week for the farmer to harvest the paddy.”