‘Our struggle for water is never-ending’
Bidyut Kumar Mondol, a farmer from Kamardha village in Naogaon's Porsha upazila, finds himself grappling with a challenging predicament. He had prepared 23 bighas of land for cultivating Aman paddy, but his dreams have been thwarted by a relentless lack of water. As the sun scorches the land, and the last two weeks have passed without a drop of rain, Bidyut's Aman lands and seedbeds are withering away. He has only been able to plant paddy on 4.5 bighas, despite the fact that the monsoon is halfway over, leaving most of his intended area dry and desolate. "I'm done if it doesn't rain in the next two weeks of Ashar," he says, the weight of uncertainty evident in his voice. Porsha upazila, like much of its surroundings, heavily relies on rainfall for sustenance, while both surface and groundwater remain scarce resources. "In the absence of rainwater, we depend on groundwater for irrigation. But even the groundwater is reducing," Bidyut added. "I c...