Farmers and firms in southern region facing disaster in severe cold

Farmers and agrarian economies in the southern region have been hit hard by a series of adverse weather conditions, including ongoing cold waves and dense fog. Boro seeds, potatoes, wheat and winter vegetables are facing a severe crisis. Ongoing cold waves are causing quality loss in vegetable crops due to adverse effects of fog and cold, including 'cold injury' in boro seedbed, 'late blight disease' in potatoes and fungal 'blast' infection in wheat. After last October's Cyclone Hamun from the Bay of Bengal, another storm 'Midhili' in November had a considerable adverse impact on the production of Aman, the major food grain crop in the southern region.

Heavy rains caused by the two cyclones in two months inundated vast areas of Barishal and semi-ripe Aman, disrupting production and delaying planting of winter vegetables and other Robi crops. Now cultivated Robi crop is under new disaster. In previous years, wheat, potato and onion cultivation was completed by December, this time it continues beyond mid-January due to untimely rains in October-November. As a result, the production and quality of those crops are likely to be disrupted. Besides, the advance rains create quite adverse conditions for all the crops.

After the onset of monsoon rains, the agricultural warriors of the southern region have overcome the pressure of Autumn heavy rains and untimely rains, but in the field to achieve their goals in the cultivation of winter vegetables, Boro, potatoes, wheat and onions, but the force of winter with fog is making everything a mess. The temperature in Barishal on the first day of Magh (January 15) dropped to the country's minimum of 9 degrees Celsius after the mercury dipped below normal with dense fog from the end of Poush which was 2.9 degrees below normal. Along with thick fog and cold wind has pushed the situation to more disaster. The mercury in Barishal dropped to 10.5 degrees on Sunday and 10.7 degrees on Saturday. After about 48 hours, the sun was seen in Barishal on Monday morning, but the sun was not seen before 1:15 on Tuesday.

In the current Robi season, the seed bed that has been prepared for the cultivation of 4 lakh hectares for the production of about 1.7 lakh tones of Boro rice in the southern region is under the influence of 'cold injury'. weather conditions In addition to the production of various vegetables including several winter vegetables, the quality is also getting destroyed due to the coldness of the cold current with thick fog and cold wind. On the other hand, with the aim of producing about 1 lakh 92 thousand tons of wheat in the current Robi season, which has been cultivated in about 60 thousand hectares, the fungal 'blast' disease is also at risk. With the current climate conditions, the forecast of rain in the next two days by the Meteorological Department is considered suitable for blast infection by field level agriculturists.

On the other hand, in the current season in Barishal agricultural region, the cultivation of 3 lakh tons of round potatoes in about 12,000 hectares is at the final stage, but the farmers are worried about the infection of a fungal disease called 'late blight' in the crop due to the continuous cold wave with thick fog.

Even onion cultivation has been delayed due to two rounds of untimely and heavy rains in October and November. In the current season, the target of 11 lakh 82 thousand tons of onion production in about 93 thousand hectares of 11 districts of southern region including Barishal is fixed. About 33 percent of the total onion produced in the country is produced in the southern region. Of the 34.16 lakh tones of onions produced in the country last year, more than 1.15 lakh tones were produced in the southern region, said the Directorate of Agricultural Extension.

Barishal Agricultural Extension Directorate officer Golam Mostafa said, we are constantly monitoring the situation. The Block Supervisors of each area have been instructed to understand the situation and provide appropriate advice to the farmers. Each Block Supervisors have been instructed to monitor the work regularly.