Five years to recover—how one flood wiped out a season's worth of work in Bangladesh

In Dirai, Sunamganj—nestled in Bangladesh's northeastern wetland region—rice fields were almost ready for harvest when the floodwaters came. Heavy rains inundated the haors, submerging crops that farmers had spent an entire season tending. The footage tells the story plainly: waterlogged rice fields completely underwater, and stalks that were days from yielding a harvest now rotting beyond use—not even fit for livestock to consume. Across seven haor districts, 121,000 acres of boro paddy were damaged, affecting 236,000 farmers. "It will take five years to recover," one farmer says. This is what climate change looks like on the ground in Bangladesh, where disasters are becoming more frequent, more severe, and more costly for the families who can least afford them. But amid the loss, something else is visible in these communities: Farmers are gathering for BRAC microfinance meetings, learning about tools that can help them weather the next shock before it arrives. 📹 Watch this video to learn: How the 2026 haor floods devastated rice harvests across northeastern Bangladesh What the human cost of crop loss looks like for farming families in Dirai, Sunamganj How climate change is making disasters like this more frequent and harder to recover from How BRAC's crop insurance, offered through our microfinance program, is helping farmers protect what they've built and prepare for the next season ✨ About BRAC's work with farmers in Bangladesh BRAC is the world's largest NGO and one of Bangladesh's leading development organizations. Through its microfinance program, BRAC offers crop insurance that currently covers 91,000 farmers in the haor region, with repayment schedules designed around the realities of farming income, not rigid monthly cycles. Farmers can insure a small portion of their land or their entire farmland, giving them a meaningful safety net against the kinds of shocks that climate change is making harder to avoid. 💡 Learn more about BRAC's work with farmers: https://www.bracusa.org/solutions/dev... 💓 Support BRAC's work: https://www.bracusa.org/get-involved/... #Bangladesh #HaorFloods #ClimateChange #CropInsurance #BRAC #Sunamganj #FloodDamage #FoodSecurity #SmallholderFarmers #BangladeshFarmers #ClimateAdaptation #Microfinance #RuralBangladesh #HaorWetlands #BoroPaddy