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Thousands of farmers in the north have lost three crops in a row in back-to-back disasters since March with the ongoing flood, which has lasted for over three weeks in some places, unleashing the severest of blows.

Many farmers are even in danger of losing their fourth crop, aman, the second-most important rice crop, due to the flood, despite the floodwater retreating in the past two days amid chances of returning soon thanks to an active monsoon.

Losing their investments again and again, the impoverished northern farmers slipped even deeper into debt, without any hope of recovery unless the government intervened with direct monetary assistance.

‘Some areas are so badly affected that they saw 90 per cent of their farmers lose their crops one after the other,’ said Ershad Mondol, 40, a resident of Goailpuri of Jatrapur in Kurigram.

Over 80 per cent of the inhabitants of Ershad’s village, all living on agricultural activities, are severely affected by the flood, which has forced at least a third of the village’s over 300 families to leave their homes.

Ershad got his one bigha of aus in a field of low-lying char area completely washed away by floodwater.

The cost of planting aush increased this year after an unprecedented heatwave lasting over a month between late March and early May, affecting seedbeds, reported ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· correspondent in Kurigram.

Ershad cultivated aus in far fewer areas than he anticipated because of the heatwave that saw the day air temperature frequently soar past 40C for days in a row. He invested Tk 3,500 in his aush field.

The extensive heat also delayed the planting of jute, which Ershad cultivated on 40 decimal lands spending around Tk 10,000.

‘All I needed was 20 days of dry weather to save my jute field,’ said Ershad, who saw his jute field washed away in the flood in June.

¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· correspondent in Lalmonirhat reported that 18,482 hectares of aman seedbed and vegetable fields have been destroyed in the ongoing flood so far in the flood-affected five districts of the Rangpur division.

The destruction of the aman seedbed has the obvious implication - delaying the planting of the rice crop, which accounts for 40 per cent of all rice production.

Kamal Hossain, a farmer of Bidyanando in Rajarhat upazila of Kurigram, saw the flood – triggered by the third earliest monsoon since  1981 – destroy his 13 bighas of chilli field, two bighas of aman seedbed, and six bighas of vegetables.

‘Last year I lost crops worth Tk 4 lakh,’ said Kamal.

Fish farmers, particularly along the coast, witnessed massive destruction when the cyclonic storm Remal hit, leading to a sudden deluge washing away hundreds of fish farms.

The cyclone caused the monsoon to set in early and bring flooding to Sylhet at the end of May.

Data provided by the Sylhet divisional office of the Department of Agricultural Extension showed that aus was cultivated on about one lakh hectares, against the target of 1.8 lakh hectares.

‘The reason the target was missed by such a large margin is flood,’ said Motiuzzaman, in charge of the government’s agricultural extension operation in Sylhet division.

Motiuzzaman said that over 2,13,000 farmers have already suffered losses due to this year’s floods.

Sylhet has experienced three big waves of flash floods since May, the time when aush planting starts.

The jute cultivation target was also missed in the northeastern division, with jute planted in 911 hectares against 1,064 hectares.

The highest loss, however, was suffered by vegetable cultivators in the division. Out of 27,302 hectares of vegetable fields, 12,307 hectares that lay under water saw vegetables completely destroyed by now.

Many of the farmers bear more than one loan burden on their shoulders. Their deal is to keep paying a certain amount in instalments, quarterly and half-yearly, until they pay back the main loan in one go.

‘Presently, farmers are giving all-out effort in paying the instalments lending from other sources, with their capitals completely lost beyond any hope of recovery,’ said Saddam Hossain, a resident of Purbo Ichli of Gangachara in Rangpur.

Farmers are looking forward to the ongoing flood retreat, which is taking place rather slowly.

In the 24 hours until 9:00am on Tuesday, nine rivers in 19 points in 11 districts were flowing above their danger marks, according to the Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre.

At the Jagannathganj river-gauging station in Jamalpur, the Jamuna was flowing 101cm above the danger mark.

The FFWC on Tuesday afternoon predicted the flood situation to improve over the next 72 hours but warned that some rivers, such as the Teesta, Dharla, and Dudhkumar, might rise at times over the period due to rain in Bangladesh and its adjacent upstream.

The government has already advised people to prepare for floods in August and September. According to the government’s account, about two million people are currently affected by flooding in the north and north-east.