By Rosli Zakaria

In just 24 hours of non-stop torrential downpour, all eight years of toil in trying to develop a two-acre land into an agriculture showcase for rural folk turned to ruin.

The wrath of nature is unstoppable.

On this very same date (Dec 18) last year, my daughter Nurul Syakireen, son Amir Rahimie and their mother Rashidah Hassan in Taman Desa  Raya Hulu Langat felt it first.

Floods inundated the house they lived in, destroying everything they owned in the abode they bought in 1986.

It was a frightening first experience for them when Hulu Langat was flooded in 2021.

One year later the same date, it was their father’s turn to endure the same frightening experience at the farm in Setiu, Terengganu.

At the farm, all five ponds with more than six tonnes of fish, namely patin, jelawat, kelah, baung and 27 other commercial species, were submerged.

The rising floods allowed all the fish to escape as I watched helplessly.

I could not feel the tears running down my face in the rain after seeing everything that I have worked for after retirement being swept by the swift current.

The chicken I have reared perished and so did my four cats. It’s like losing loved ones all at once and feeling helpless saving them.

All farm equipment, water pumps for my fertigation project supported by the Agriculture Department and generators were damaged, and fertilisers and pesticides were flushed beyond recovery.

When this flood subsides in a couple of days, I will know the extent of the damage.

It will be a challenge to get back on my feet due to depleted resources. Recovery will be at snail’s pace and the fear of another big flood lingers on my mind.

The floods were severe this year and much worse than the one that hit Pelong in 2013, and generally the entire State of Terengganu.

By 6am today (Dec 19), 36 hours after the incessant rain, 11,059 people from 3,551 families were evacuated to 172 relief centres state-wide.

Did this disaster occur due to climate change? Will agriculture survive if this situation continues?

I am just one of the thousands of victims who will be counting losses after the flood subsides.

For some, getting back into cash crop farming will not be easy and this will affect food production.

And with the spiralling costs of living, the prices for food items like vegetable and fish susceptible to damage by extreme weather change will increase in tandem.

Then the sudden increase in farm inputs by more than 100 per cent after Covid-19, will affect farmers to start all over again.

Already some crops have refused to produce like the duku Terengganu, for the past three years.

The weather change will definitely affect crop’s planting schedule and production.

The misery caused by the floods will affect the lives of the population and there is nothing we can do to stop the weather change.

Unless you don’t eat, you will be careless about food production and helping farmers affected by natural disasters which come in many ways.