In Bangladesh’s north-eastern haor region, a familiar disaster has unfolded with devastating consequences. Unplanned embankments and roads built across croplands have disrupted the natural flow of water during heavy rainfall. At the same time, river, canal and wetland beds have long been silted up, preventing upstream floodwaters from draining properly. Weak flood-protection embankments have collapsed in many places, allowing water to inundate fields and create severe waterlogging.
The result has been catastrophic. Farmers’ half-ripe paddy fields have gone underwater. Piles of harvested paddy left for threshing have been washed away, while seedlings have sprouted and rotted in the floodwater.
Assessing the full scale of crop losses will take time. However, eyewitness accounts suggest that nearly 70 percent of the paddy crop has been destroyed, resulting in losses of approximately Tk 10 billion.
The Haor region supplies around 18 to 20 percent of Bangladesh’s rice production. This disaster therefore poses a serious threat not only to local livelihoods but also to national food security. It may be assumed that Bangladesh will need to import at least 15 percent more paddy or an equivalent amount of rice in the coming months, placing additional pressure on an already fragile economy.
Sifting through the remnants of a ruined harvest, an agricultural worker faces the daunting reality of "surviving the months ahead" on negligible short-term relief. Photo: Orchid ChakmaBeyond crops: surviving the months ahead
Yet the deeper crisis lies not only in lost production, but in survival.
For the people of the haor region—especially farmers and agricultural labourers—the immediate challenge is enduring the months until the next harvest while continuing cultivation and rebuilding what has been lost. Farming assets, livestock, and equipment have been severely damaged.
The government has announced financial assistance: Tk 7,000 per month for three months to 100,000 farming families, amounting to Tk 2.1 billion.
Compared to the scale of losses suffered by farmers, this assistance remains negligible. Agricultural labourers must also be included alongside farmers in beneficiary lists.
The more pressing question remains unanswered: how will these people survive the remaining nine months after this short-term support ends? How will they continue farming next year? Support, therefore, must extend throughout the entire year until the next harvest season.
Debt, dispossession, and the agrarian trap
In Bangladesh, children of farmers are effectively born into a debt burden. Fathers often pass those debts on to their children at death, and the burden continues to grow from generation to generation. Despite backbreaking labour, much of what farmers produce ends up in the hands of moneylenders and landowners.
This disaster deepens that cycle.
Loan repayments and instalments owed to village moneylenders, NGOs and banks from the previous year should be suspended. Since it will not be possible to repay all debts from the next harvest alone, arrangements should be made to allow repayment of principal over at least three years.
Without such measures, recovery will remain structurally impossible.
While the government collects limited revenue, far greater sums end up in the hands of wealthy “gentleman fishers” and corrupt officials. Although leases are legally valid only during the dry season, ordinary people are often prevented—illegally and forcibly—from fishing during the monsoon.
Rebuilding agriculture: inputs, livestock, and labour
Although modern machinery has begun to enter Bangladeshi agriculture in limited ways, farming remains largely dependent on traditional methods. Draft cattle remain essential for cultivation. Yet this year’s disaster has destroyed not only paddy, but also straw used as animal feed. Farmers, struggling to survive, may be forced to sell their cattle—undermining future cultivation.
To ensure continuity:
Employment opportunities must also be created through food-for-work programmes, including road repairs, canal, wetland, and pond excavations, and tree planting. Rationing systems for essentials such as rice, lentils, oil and salt should be introduced.
The politics of water and fisheries
Fishing in open inland water bodies remains a crucial source of livelihood for agricultural labourers and poor farmers. However, the government’s revenue-oriented waterbody leasing policy remains a major barrier.
While the government collects limited revenue, far greater sums end up in the hands of wealthy “gentleman fishers” and corrupt officials. Although leases are legally valid only during the dry season, ordinary people are often prevented—illegally and forcibly—from fishing during the monsoon.
At the same time, leaseholders, uncertain about renewals, often drain wetlands completely and catch brood fish from the mud, destroying breeding stocks.
To protect both livelihoods and ecological sustainability, the leasing system must be abolished and replaced with community-based management. Authority over these water bodies should be transferred from the Ministry of Land to the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock.
Livelihood diversification and basic services
Duck farming, already a common economic activity in the Haor region, offers one avenue for recovery. The government should ensure that at least one duck farm is established in every village, alongside veterinary support.
At the same time:
This disaster will also increase school dropout rates and expose many girls to child marriage. Educational materials, scholarships, and nutritious midday meals must be provided, alongside strict enforcement to prevent child marriage.
Prices, markets, and structural vulnerability
Farmers must receive fair prices for their produce. Currently, as soon as boro paddy is harvested, farmers are often forced to sell at low prices to repay debts and meet urgent expenses. Direct government procurement from genuine farmers at fair prices is essential.
At the same time, longer-term agricultural adaptation must be prioritised. Existing paddy varieties typically require 140 to 160 days to mature. Research by the Krishi Gobeshona Foundation and the International Rice Research Institute into shorter-duration, cold-tolerant varieties offers potential pathways for reducing vulnerability to flash floods.
Climate risks and rural safety
Additional risks compound the crisis. Lightning strikes continue to kill farmers working in open fields, while livestock losses further weaken already fragile households.
To reduce these risks:
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Despite "backbreaking labour" to salvage wet paddy from inundated fields, haor farmers remain caught in an agrarian trap worsened by this systemic failure. Photo: Orchid Chakma
An annual disaster, a systemic failure
Such disasters are becoming almost annual occurrences.
The challenge, therefore, is not only recovery—but transformation. Integrated short-, medium-, and long-term plans must be developed and implemented with the participation of local communities. Adequate budgetary allocation must be ensured.
If agriculture and farmers survive, the Haor region—and Bangladesh—will survive.
Dr Halim Dad Khan is a researcher and activist.
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