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Boro cultivation on a vast tract of land in Kodalichhara canal of Moulvibazar district is likely to get affected due to a scarcity of water this season.
According to official sources, over 1,000 acres of land may remain uncultivated on the banks of the 17-km canal, which have almost gone dry.
Most farmers cannot provide irrigation from different sources as there are only a few deep tube-wells for the water supply to croplands.
About 50 per cent of farmers in Mostafapur, Giasnagar and Nazirabad areas are facing trouble in farming Boro paddy due to the water scarcity.
Farmers said they could not transplant saplings on the dry land of the canal due to the water crisis. Even, seedlings at places are now drying up. They also said they cultivated 250 bighas of land last year with water from Kodalichhara canal through irrigation, but it did not happen this year.
The vast land would remain uncultivated this season due to the water shortage, they regretted.
Some locals said they had submitted a written petition to the deputy commissioner, the WDB executive engineer and the deputy director (DD) of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), seeking a solution to the problem.
DAE DD Shamsuddin Ahmed says farmers may suffer a huge loss if the water crisis is not resolved soon.
BWDB executive engineer Khalid bin Walid told the FE, "We've sent a proposal to the higher authorities for irrigation from Manu Barrage."
"We're trying to resolve the water crisis as it will hamper Boro farming on over 1,000 acres of land this season."