UNB Khulna :
Partial restoration of Beel Dakatia’s water drainage system has given a thrust to crops cultivation and aquaculture there over the last few years, though the vast low-lying areas of the beel (wetland) is exposed to the threats of stagnation again due to the constant siltation prompted by grabbing of waterways and some faulty sluice gates.
Farmers are now cultivating rice and fish along with other high value crops like vegetables in the beel-one of the largest wetland ecosystem of the country that spreads across Khulna and Jessore districts.
Water stagnation that once turned the area into a sterile backwater region is no more as the recent re-excavation of the Koiya River and the 80-km-wide canal flowing across the beel (water body) from Shelua to Jamira areas made the strong tidal flow functional again a couple of years back.
Kamruzzaman Milton, a farmer of Arangghata area, said after the elimination of the water logging problem, locals started building small enclosures in the beel area for rice-shrimp culture.
While vegetable farming has also seen a boost as the locals are making the best use of the boundaries of those enclosures and the higher parts of the beel for that purpose.
According to the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) and the Department of Fisheries (DF), almost 30,000 acres of land in Beel Dakatia has been brought under fish and vegetable cultivation creating income opportunities for the locals.
Now to maintain the financial solvency waterbody and further river excavation is needed, observed the locals and officials. Nirmal Kanti Jowarder, a local land surveyor, said if the Koiya sluice gate is not improved, the beel will drown again with heavy rains.
Grabbing of a portion of the Koiya River and the Sonhdar canal in Thukro area has also been leading to the obstruction of water flow prompting the siltation, he added.
Partial restoration of Beel Dakatia’s water drainage system has given a thrust to crops cultivation and aquaculture there over the last few years, though the vast low-lying areas of the beel (wetland) is exposed to the threats of stagnation again due to the constant siltation prompted by grabbing of waterways and some faulty sluice gates.
Farmers are now cultivating rice and fish along with other high value crops like vegetables in the beel-one of the largest wetland ecosystem of the country that spreads across Khulna and Jessore districts.
Water stagnation that once turned the area into a sterile backwater region is no more as the recent re-excavation of the Koiya River and the 80-km-wide canal flowing across the beel (water body) from Shelua to Jamira areas made the strong tidal flow functional again a couple of years back.
Kamruzzaman Milton, a farmer of Arangghata area, said after the elimination of the water logging problem, locals started building small enclosures in the beel area for rice-shrimp culture.
While vegetable farming has also seen a boost as the locals are making the best use of the boundaries of those enclosures and the higher parts of the beel for that purpose.
According to the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) and the Department of Fisheries (DF), almost 30,000 acres of land in Beel Dakatia has been brought under fish and vegetable cultivation creating income opportunities for the locals.
Now to maintain the financial solvency waterbody and further river excavation is needed, observed the locals and officials. Nirmal Kanti Jowarder, a local land surveyor, said if the Koiya sluice gate is not improved, the beel will drown again with heavy rains.
Grabbing of a portion of the Koiya River and the Sonhdar canal in Thukro area has also been leading to the obstruction of water flow prompting the siltation, he added.
