Water crisis hampers jute retting at Fulbari

FULBARI, KURIGRAM, Aug 11: Poor water rainfall for a month - has dried up all water bodies including beel and canal in Fulbari Upazila of the district.
Jute growers cannot make retting their harvested jute plants due to lack of water in these retting places.
 Some of them are waiting for rain to ret their jute plants. Many of them have cut their jute plants and kept aside for farming Aman in these fields.
Also some growers are separating fibres from raw jute plants. Later on, the raw fibres or buckles are retted in ribbon system.
Drifting rain fell for three/four days and sky remained cloudy. It brought some relief to public suffering amid heating. But it brought facilities for jute growers.While talking with this correspondent of The Daily Observer, jute growers said, due to retting water crisis in the upazila, more than one lakh jute farmers  have been waiting for rain.
A farmer of Kurushaferusha area of the upazila Kasem Ali said, he has cultivated jute on three bughas of land this year. But in the last year he had farmed jute on four bighas. He is retting his jute in knee-level water in a ditch one kilometre (km) away from his house.
Jute farmers Nikhil Chandra Ray and Toyeb Ali of the same area are retting their jute in a river 3-5km away. They are counting extra transport costs for taking their cut jute to the river.
Jute cannot be retted in ponds having fishes. They have farmed jute in four bighas each.
Upazila Agriculture Officer Nilufa Yasmin said, a total of 759 hectares (ha) of land across six unions of the upazila was targeted for jute farming this year. But at the time farming, it was little raining. So only 540ha have been farmed, she added.
Amid water crisis across the upazila, more than  10 ha jute have been cut, she further said.
"We're expecting rain in few days. Then farmers can cut their standing jute and ret. Now due to the shortage of water, farmers are advised for using ribbon system for retting their jute," she said.
She said jute has been cultivated in abandoned lands and in chars. "We're inspiring farmers for cultivating rich species of jute. We have prepared exhibitions at different places," she maintained.