Clicky
Editorial

Power crisis affects Boro cultivation

Ensure smooth electricity supply for irrigation


Bangladeshpost
Published : 24 Jan 2023 09:07 PM

Farmers in different districts have been facing serious difficulties since the onset of the Boro cultivationseason due to continuous scarcity of power supply and unsteady voltage.Besides, spiraling prices of fuel oil diesel and fertilisers have also created a growing concern among the farmers there.

As farmers are not getting smooth power supply, power-run tube-wells, both deep and shallow, are failing to lift adequate water.A large number of Boro field have already dried up as the growers have no financial capacity to irrigate those land with diesel-run shallow pumps.

Farmers in Keshabpur upazila of Jashore district have been experiencing more than 5 hours of load shedding in a day for 15 days, according to media reports.So, the prospect of Boro cultivation in Keshabpur upazila has become bleak.

Many farmers cultivated Boro on their land by taking loan from NGOs and other sources.They also informed the authority concerned of the matter but they did not get any response to this end.

The government will have to take immediate 

steps to ensure smooth power supply

 during this peak irrigation season

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasinaalways remains beside the farmers and urge them to bring every inch of land across the country under cultivation to grow more food.Her (Sheikh Hasina) government is taking pragmatic steps in development of agricultural sector.

Like previous year, the government has also committed to ensure supply of uninterrupted power for Boroirrigation this year.State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid on several occasions also assured farmers of ensuring necessary irrigation facilities to the paddy farming fieldsthrough operating pumps in the country’s northwest region.Butin reality, many farmers,who prepared their land, have not sown Boro plant yet due to lack of irrigation facilities caused by power crisis and skyrocketing prices of fuel oil diesel.

If the growers fail to get uninterrupted electricity supply during this peak cultivation season, a large number of landsmay remain uncultivated.Therefore, the government will have to take immediate steps to ensure smooth power supply during this peak irrigation season.Besides, it will also have to ensure uninterrupted supply of fuel for irrigation across the country, as our farmers have kept wheels of the country’s economy moving during this tough time.