Facing fallout of flood

A farmer at Goshaibari village in Dhunot upazila in Bogra removing sand from his cultivable land. PHOTO: STAR

At least 45,000 hectors of cultivable land in Bogra and Sirajgonj districts have been covered by sand carried by the recent flood.

Sirajgonj Agriculture Extension Department (AED) officials said about 25,000 hectors are now under cover of five to six feet layers of sand in different areas of the district.

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Sand has covered over 20,000 hectors in the Sadar, Dhunat, Sonatola and Shariakandi upazilas in Bogra, officials here said.

Asraf Ali and Afzal Hossain at Chuniapara village in Dhunat upazila said all their lands have become unfit for cultivation due o sand deposit. It is not possible to remove the sand and make those cultivable again, the poor farmers said. Same is the condition with many a farmers in Dhunat and three other upazilas, AED officials told this correspondent. The worst affected villages are Chaniapara, Chatodiar, Gozaria, Buroiel, Chekashi, Kutheirgat, Gueduri, Daripara, Chatulia, Fakirpara and Collagepara.

In Sonatola upazila, most lands in Khabulia, Vitnarpara and Purbatakinich villages are now sheets of sand.

Farmers in Sirajganj Sadar and Kazipur said they can not cultivate Aman paddy on fields on the right bank of the Jamuna due to heavy layers of sand on the lands.

The affected areas include Bahauka, Kurania, Kuripar, Vatpiaria, Shimla, Patagram villages in Kazipur upazila and Kaizuri in Shahjadpur upazila.

Twenty-five thousand hectares out of over 39,000 inundated by the flood in the district are now under sand and unfit for Aman cultivation, sources said.