15 Minutes of Hail Destroys 85 Hectares of Ripe Aman Paddy in Panchagarh

A sudden hailstorm lasting only 10 to 15 minutes has damaged ripe Aman paddy on 85 hectares of land across four upazilas of Panchagarh. Hailstones knocked the paddy grains from their stalks and flattened the ripe plants to the ground; in places, harvested paddy left in the fields was submerged in rainwater.

Abdul Matin, deputy director of the Panchagarh Department of Agricultural Extension, confirmed the damage figures on Thursday evening (12 November).

Earlier, on Wednesday evening (11 November), rain accompanied by hail fell in two spells across various parts of the district, badly damaging ripe Aman paddy in Panchagarh Sadar, Tentulia, Boda and Atwari upazilas.

Deputy Director Abdul Matin said the hail damaged 50 hectares of Aman paddy in Tentulia upazila, 20 hectares in Atwari, 10 hectares in Boda upazila and 5 hectares in Panchagarh Sadar. Data on the damaged crops has been collected from the field level, and a detailed report has been prepared and sent to the relevant ministry.

A field visit to the Haripur Daulatpur area of Maidan Dighi union in Boda upazila showed farmers' crops extensively damaged by the hailstorm.

Khairul Alam, an affected farmer from the Jhankua area, said heavy hail fell in their area on Wednesday evening and caused him extensive damage. Going to his paddy field in the morning and seeing the paddy lying on the ground broke him. He had cultivated the paddy with a loan, and he is now worried that recovering even the production cost will be difficult.

Local farmers said they had grown Aman paddy hoping it would cover the year's food supply and household expenses. Suffering such damage just before harvest has created uncertainty over their expected income, and many fear large financial losses.

The affected farmers say it will be hard for them to recover from this crop loss. They hope that government assistance would help them absorb some of the disaster's damage, and farmers across the district are deeply worried about failing to recover their production costs.

According to the Department of Agricultural Extension, Aman paddy was cultivated on a total of 145,000 hectares in the district this season. Of the 71,275 hectares where harvesting was still pending, crops on 85 hectares were damaged by the hailstorm.