Jahid Dulal, Lalmohan (Bhola)

The Agriculture Department is fearing massive damage to crops in Lalmohan upazila of Bhola due to impact of cyclone Midhili. Out of which paddy is expected to suffer the most. Cyclone Midhili hit Lalmohan upazila on Friday afternoon while crossing the coast. It is feared that at least 20 percent of the rice in the field will be lost. Besides, the winter vegetables in the field have also been damaged. In total, there is a possibility of loss of agricultural crops of about 12 crore rupees in Lalmohan.

Lalmohan's Ramaganj Union, Azhar Road area farmer Md. Mosharef Hossain said that this year we cultivated paddy on three acres of land. At least one lakh taka has been spent on this rice cultivation. Due to Friday's storm, most of the rice in the fields has now fallen to the ground. As a result of which these paddy will be spoiled. For this reason, I have to count losses in rice this year.

Another rice farmer of East Charoumed village of that union. Noornavi Mia said, this year we are cultivating hybrid varieties of paddy on 250 percent of the land. Since the weather has been good since the beginning, the crops in the fields have also been good. However, in this cyclone, most of the rice fields are lying on the ground. These rice will no longer be there, all will be wasted. We are small farmers, it will be difficult for us to recover this loss. For this we seek cooperation.

According to Upazila Agriculture Office sources, Aman paddy has been cultivated on 23 thousand 600 hectares of land in Lalmohan Upazila during the current Aman season. Among them, the farmers of Lalmohan's Lord Hardinge, Badarpur, Dhaligaurnagar, Paschim Charumed and Farajganj Union have cultivated the maximum amount of paddy.

Lalmohan Upazila Agriculture Extension Officer. Ahsan Ullah said that the farmers of Lalmohan have suffered a lot due to Cyclone Midhili. Because the farmers could harvest the paddy of their land from next 15 days. Now all the rice that has fallen to the ground will not survive. All these rice will rot. We have compiled a list of affected farmers from the agriculture office.

On the other hand, the cyclone that hit on Friday afternoon destroyed more than half a hundred houses in Tabe Lalmohan upazila of Midhili. Out of which 45 houses were partially damaged and 15 houses were completely damaged.

In this regard, Lalmohan Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Anamika Nazrul said, we have already sent a list to the district stating the amount of damage. If I get the allocation from there, I will deliver it to the affected people. Apart from this, there were no injuries or deaths due to people being careful in advance. More than 3,000 people have taken shelter in various shelters of the upazila due to the news of the cyclone. We distributed dry food among them.