But after the government supplied seeds and fertiliser so farmers could cultivate their fields again, many rice growers say they expect healthy crops.

"I am now busy harvesting rice. The yield is good. Maybe we will have a bumper harvest compared to recent years," said Mohammad Shahabuddin as he worked in his field in Dhamrai village, 40 km (25 miles) from Dhaka.

"I have hired labourers to help me collect the rice and bring it home. I need to do it quickly before rain and hailstones strike," he said, referring to a feature of seasonal weather.

Rice is the staple food in Bangladesh, an agrarian country of more than 130 million people. Agriculture is the biggest employer and contributes around 30 percent to Bangladesh's gross domestic product.

A good harvest will "not only immediately give my family food but will also help me save some money to buy seeds and fertiliser for the next crop," Shahabuddin, who produces three rice crops a year, said.

"The frequent floods often push us to the brink of death or starvation. It was no exception following last year's flooding," he said.

HIGH TEMPERATURES

Another Dhamrai farmer, Mohammad Alauddin, was also optimistic about his rice crop.

"I lost my entire crop when all of the fields went under chest or neck-high water. But God seems merciful and so we are hoping to bring home a bumper crop now," he said.

Agriculture Minister M.K. Anwar told Reuters in a interview last week that favourable weather since last year's flooding had contributed to the current rice crop which augured well for the rest of crop year.

"We expect a good Boro crop this year, if there are no natural calamities. We are expecting a higher production of 14.0 million tonnes of Boro rice against last year's production of 12.8 million tonnes," he said.

The minister, however, said the country might still face some shortfall in overall food grain production this year because wheat yields could be reduced by high temperatures and a lack of irrigation.

Boro rice accounts for more than 50 percent of Bangladesh's total rice production of 26 million tonnes.

Bangladesh produced 27.7 million tonnes of food grain in fiscal year ended June last year, officials said.

It imported about 2.29 million tonnes of food grain in 2003/2004, including about 800,000 tonnes of rice and 1.5 million tonnes of wheat.