PADDY farmers in Patuakhali and Barguna are now prying for rain as absence of rainfall, lack of normal flash flood and drying up of the six major rivers at many points are affecting the irrigation. The farmers said they were now gripped with serious anxiety. The farmers said the irri and aus plants were withering and turning pale under the blazing sun on vast tracts of land in all the 12 upazilas of the two districts. The water-starved land have developed cracks at many places. According to the farmers, the rivers Tetulia, Paira, Karkhana, Bishkhali, Agunmukha and Ramnabad are the natural sources of water for irrigation in the area. But the six rivers flowing through the districts have dried up at a number of places following alarming fall of groundwater. The cropland along these rivers are now deprived of the facility of getting water from these sources. Many of the farmers cannot operate their pumps for supplying water to their aus and irri land due to scarcity and high prices of diesel and frequent load-shedding of electricity. The prices of diesel have increased by Tk 7 to 8 per litre in the rural areas over the last few weeks. Taking advantage of the scarcity of diesel, some dealers and retailers have raised its price, the farmers alleged. Md Tajumuddin Khan, a farmer of village Bilbilash under Bauphal upazila of Patuakhali, said he had cultivated irri paddy on six bighas (one bigha is equal to 0.13 hectare) of land. But, at present, the plants are withering due to the lack of water, he said. Mukunda Lal Das, a farmer of village of Devpur under Kalapara upazila of Patuakhali, said he had cultivated three bighas of land for production of aus paddy. But the plants are now going to die due to the lack of water, he said. Like Tajumuddin and Mukunda, many other farmers said the paddy plants would be seriously damaged, if there was no rainfall in the next few days. According to the Department of Agricultural Extension in Patuakhali, 93,522 hectares of land have been brought under the irri and aus cultivation in the district in the current season. The target of irri and aus paddy production has been fixed at 1,85,534 tonnes. On the other hand, according to the Barguna DAE, about 78,327 hectares of land have been brought under the irri and aus cultivation in the district this year. The target of production has been fixed at 1,31,571 tonnes. Some DAE officials echoed the farmers saying that the actual production was likely to elude the target, if there is no sufficient rainfall or normal flash flood from the major rivers soon. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------