Moynul Haque Mridha, Rajbari

Due to the sudden increase in the water of Padma river in the fields, the Chinese almond farmers of Char area of Goalando upazila of Rajbari district are facing loss.

It can be seen on the ground that Chinese almond fields in different areas including Dhopagati Char, Biswanathpur Char in Daulatdia Union of Goaland Upazila have been washed away by water. In this regard, when some farmers of North Daulatdia Canal Ghat area were spoken to, they highlighted their losses.

Affected farmer Abdul Latif Mandal said, 5 brothers cultivated Chinese almonds on 21 bigha of crop land in Khursa Char near Antar Mor. But due to the sudden rise in water, about 6 bigha of land has been submerged in water. I have been able to harvest the nuts of the remaining 15 bighas of land. I am afraid of loss.

Farmer Abdul Quader Sheikh said, I planted Chinese almonds on 6 bigha land. I got 3 bigha of nuts out of it. The almonds of the remaining 3 bigha land are submerged in water. 1500 taka boat rental and brought the produced almonds home. After that, the women have to remove the nuts from the trees and dry them to sell in the market. Nuts will not benefit from this.

Another farmer Habib Sardar said, I planted Chinese almonds on 4 bigha land. All of it went under water. I could not imagine that the water would rise suddenly.

Goalando upazila agriculture officer Md Khokon Uzzaman said, on behalf of the agriculture department, we have encouraged the farmers to cultivate Chinese almonds with free seeds and fertilizers. In the financial year 2023-24, farmers cultivated Chinese almonds on 190 hectares of land in this upazila. Out of this, 130 hectares of groundnuts have been harvested and 60 hectares of groundnuts are under drought and waterlogging. He also said that if the farmers cut the nuts before the water rises, then they will not face any loss.