Juvenile mangoes, litchis and even standing paddy in Rajshahi region are drying up and falling away due to extreme heat and a long absence of rainfall.
Moksed Ali of Haripur area under Paba upazila was pouring water through a bucket at the feet of the Litchi (Lychee) trees. He said, there has been no rain for a long time this year. The leaves of the trees are getting cramp in the heat of the burning sun.
Some of the juvenile litchis are also being dried up. That is why he was pouring water on the tree-trunks hoping for any benefit.
Mango orchard owner Saiful Islam of Chapal village under Godagari informed, the young mangoes from his trees are falling away in hot, dry weather. A moderate rainfall would save the mangoes. He said he was pouring water at the feet of the trees daily but that is not working well.
Meteorological Office sources in Rajshahi said there was only 7.6 millimetre of rainfall on April-9 and April-11 in some eastern side of Rajshahi city of Puthia, Charghat and Bagha upazila. But there was no rainfall in Rajshahi Metropolitan area, Godagari, Tanore, Mohanpur, Paba, Durgapur and Bagmara upazilas. As a result, the temperature in Rajshahi is continuously increasing. Even the areas are facing mild to moderate heat waves.
In Rajshahi, the highest day temperature was recorded at 39.6 degrees Celsius on last April 14. The lowest temperature of the day was 23.6 degrees Celsius. On Saturday last, the highest day temperature of Rajshahi was 35.9 degrees Celsius while the lowest temperature at 6-00 am on the same day was 22.4 degrees.
The day before( Friday) the highest recorded temperature was 36.7 degrees and the lowest was 23.7 degrees Celsius. KZM Abdul Awal, Deputy Director of Agricultural Extension Department of Rajshahi informed due to extreme heat and absence of moisture in air standing paddy in the fields are drying up in heat-shock.
Zahidul Islam (40) of Mondumala area under Tanore upazila informed, an acute crisis of water has been prevailing in their areas. The deep tubewells under Barendra Multipurpose Development Authority (BMDA) cannot supply sufficient water in the Boro paddy fields. As a result, farmers wait for the rain water. But, there was no rainfall this year. So farmers are facing the crisis in irrigation. The irrigation cost from the deep tubewell is also increasing, he added.
Latifa Helen, Senior Observator of Rajshahi Meteorological Office informed, a mild heat-wave is blowing over Rajshahi, Khulna, Jashore and Kushtia districts. There is no indication of fallin the temperature unless there is rainfall. It is still unpredictable when there will be a rainfall.
