Two storms recently hit the country in the middle of the coronavirus epidemic. The owners of the mango and lichi gardens in Dinajpur have been left in despair by such natural disasters.
The storm Amphan hit the area amid coronavirus crisis last week. Then, on Tuesday night, hundreds of mangoes and lichi trees fell after the second storm. Hundreds of tons of mangoes and lichi have been washed away by the storm.
According to Dinajpur Agriculture Extension authority, a total of 5,692 hectares of land is being used for mangoes and 6,546 hectares of land are being cultivated for lichi in Dinajpur district this year. The Agriculture Department is expecting 96,746 metric tonnes of mangoes and 39,276 metric lichis. But in the past week, the district has suffered heavy damage to mangoes and lichis in the past two natural disasters.
The Department Agriculture Extension said Tuesday night's storm has resulted in about 15 crore taka of mangoes and 2 crore worth of lichis being damaged. Earlier, the heavy damage was caused by the storm Amphan on May 21 and 22.
At the time, Touhidul Iqbal, deputy director of the Agricultural Extension Authority, said that the cyclone Amphan damaged 10 percent mangoes and 5 percent lichis in Dinajpur district. The owners of the mango and lichi orchards in Dinajpur are worried about the marketing and price of their mangoes and lichi due to the outbreak of the coronavirus.
They are in great distress because of the massive damage caused by natural disasters.
Anwarul Islam, owner of a lichi orchard in the village of Madhavbati in Biral district, said that the lichis are their sole source of income. But now they are in despair.
Hassan Ali of the same village said 15 of the 175 mango trees he had planted in the storm had completely fallen.
The rest of the tree branches are broken. He won't get even 10% of the mangoes in that garden. He said that, the cost of the orchard was 15 lakh taka, including the maintenance of the garden.
Touhidul Iqbal, deputy director of the Agricultural Extension Authority, said that the storm last Tuesday night damaged mangoes and lichi in Dinajpur Sadar, Biral, Birganj and Nawabganj. In addition, the rice in several areas has been submerged due to rain. He said the affected mango, lichi and borough farmers will be listed and brought under the incentive.
