Haor farmers are grappling with a fall in Boro paddy prices before Eid as they begin harvesting ripe and half-ripe paddy amid fear of further flash flood.
A 76.29-per cent harvest was done in the haor region until April 26, said insiders.
But absence of proper marketing and urgent cash needs before Eid are forcing farmers to sell at 30-38 per cent lower than the government rate of Tk 1,080 per maund.
The government claims more than three-fourths of harvest have been completed in seven haor districts under four divisions out of 0.451-million hectares of land.
Many parts are still vulnerable amid another round of rain in frontier Indian states and in Bangladesh parts, according to insiders.
The flash flood first submerged nearly 7,600 hectares with Boro crop in parts of Sunamganj, Netrakona and Kishoreganj in the first week of April.
It later scattered into Sylhet, Habiganj and Brahmanbaria haor parts, according to the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE).
DAE Mymensingh, Sylhet, Dhaka and Cumilla offices say the flood situation has improved while the government's comprehensive effort helped finish rice harvest of 344,696 out of 451,816 hectares of haor land until the period in question.
"The next 10 to 15 days is crucial to complete the harvest in the rest of the region," says Md Rabiul Hoque Majumder, deputy director at DAE Brahmanbaria.
The district has recently witnessed submersion of a few parts of the haor land.
Vast parts in Sunamganj, Kishoreganj, Habiganj, Netrakona and Sylhet aside, new areas of over 250 out of 32,002 hectares of wetland drowned in Brahmanbaria.
Five sub-districts, including Nasirnagar, Sarail and Nabinagar, witnessed flash flood, says Mr Majumder.
He says 52-per cent harvest has been completed by Tuesday evening while 120 combined harvesters are being used for paddy collection quickly.
Sunamganj farmers, who witnessed the outmost losses, have been able to complete harvest of 85-per cent paddy and 80-per cent ripe crop, said district DAE deputy director Bimal Chandra Som.
But paddy price dropped to just Tk 630-650 a maund, says Kamal Dewan, a farmer-cum-trader at Dirai.
"Half of the farmers in the area have lost crop while the rest are struggling to get back investments," he tells the FE.
Farmers in Netrakona and parts of Habiganj were also selling paddy at Tk 650-750 a maund for lack of storage and cash crunch ahead of Eid ul-Fitr, according to the Department of Agricultural Marketing (DAM).
Reaching government food offices from the farm land is tough for farmers, says Sirajul Alam, a Baniachang villager in Habiganj.
"That's why, we are selling paddy early to collect money before Eid," he laments the fact.
Farm economist Prof Golam Hafeez Kennedy says haor-based farmers should get a top priority in the government's paddy procurement.
He suggests that agriculture and food ministries take immediate action to compensate those who lost crops for flash flood.
Paddy procurement should be expanded to remote Haor farmlands to give farmers some profit during this hardship, he says.
According to the DAE, haor covers 9.22 per cent of paddy field this Boro cropping season.
It is expecting nearly 2.0 million tonnes of rice from the region which is nearly 10 per cent of the total production in Boro season.
