BSS, Rangpur :
Thousands of the river-eroded, landless and extremely poor people have been changing fortune through cultivation of various crops on the dried up riverbeds and char lands in the northern region in recent years.
Meanwhile, the have-nots group and extremely poor char people have already started harvesting some of their cultivated crops on the dried up riverbeds and low-lying char lands to get excellent output this season like in the previous years, official and local sources said.
Talking to BSS, the riverside char people expressed happiness over getting excellent crop yield on the dried up river beds and sandy char lands of the Brahmaputra, Teesta, Dharla, Ghaghot, Jamuna and other rivers to complete the harvest before the next rainy season.
According to sources in the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) and different NGOs, cultivation on the shoals, dried and silted up riverbeds and char lands has become possible due to massive deposition of alluvial soils following climate change impacts.
Crops like Boro rice, onion, garlic, maize, wheat, vegetables, groundnut, ‘china’, ‘kawn’, pulses, ‘gunji till’, tobacco, pumpkin, gourd, corn, pulses, mustard, other oil seeds, and watermelon have been growing excellent on these lands every year. The extremely poor and landless char people, small and marginal farmers have brought over 90,000 hectares of land under crop cultivation this year to get excellent crop yield as the harvesting will continue till commencement of the rainy season.
Char dwellers Nurul Hossain, Aklima and Akbar, of village Char Montola, Sonavan of Kheruar Char, Afsar of Char Goynar Patal on the Brahmaputra bed in Chilmari upazila said they are expecting bumper crop production this year.
“We have already completed harvest of the cultivated mustard and vegetables and are expecting to begin harvest of pumpkin, onion, garlic, wheat, tobacco and many other crops to get excellent yield this season,” said Sultan of Char Korai Barisal village.
River-eroded people of village Paschim Mohipur under Gangachara upazila in Rangpur Mahbub Alam, Kobiza Begum, Abdur Razzaque and Morsheda Begum are expecting bumper production of their crops cultivated on the Teesta riverbed this season. Similarly, landless riverside people Manju Rani of Gaibandha, Abdul Aziz of Nilphamari, Farman Ali of Lalmonirhat and Nur Islam of Kurigram expected bumper output of their cultivated various crops including pumpkin on sandy-barren char lands.
They said each of them has cultivated pumpkin on 150 to 200 sandbars raised on the silted-up beds spending Taka 12,000 to 13,000 each to sell the produce at Taka 35,000 to earn net profit after completing harvest by the next couple of months.
According to sources, some 14,357 river-eroded families have achieved success by cultivating pumpkin on 5,099 acres of sandy-barren char lands by last year with assistance of Practical Action Bangladesh alone since 2009 in five greater Rangpur districts.
These landless families have also changed their fortune to lead better life though they lived in utter miseries for years together since becoming victims of river erosions, an official of Practical Action Bangladesh here said.
Talking to BSS, Horticulture specialist of the DAE Khondker Md Mesbahul Islam said crop cultivation has been taking place on the dried up and silted up beds of the rivers with emergence of shoals following adverse impacts of climate change.
Agriculture and Environment Coordinator of RDRS Bangladesh Mamunur Rashid said there is no alternative to reviving water flows in the rivers for better future, environment, agriculture, bio-diversity and ecology despite better crop production on riverbeds.
Thousands of the river-eroded, landless and extremely poor people have been changing fortune through cultivation of various crops on the dried up riverbeds and char lands in the northern region in recent years.
Meanwhile, the have-nots group and extremely poor char people have already started harvesting some of their cultivated crops on the dried up riverbeds and low-lying char lands to get excellent output this season like in the previous years, official and local sources said.
Talking to BSS, the riverside char people expressed happiness over getting excellent crop yield on the dried up river beds and sandy char lands of the Brahmaputra, Teesta, Dharla, Ghaghot, Jamuna and other rivers to complete the harvest before the next rainy season.
According to sources in the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) and different NGOs, cultivation on the shoals, dried and silted up riverbeds and char lands has become possible due to massive deposition of alluvial soils following climate change impacts.
Crops like Boro rice, onion, garlic, maize, wheat, vegetables, groundnut, ‘china’, ‘kawn’, pulses, ‘gunji till’, tobacco, pumpkin, gourd, corn, pulses, mustard, other oil seeds, and watermelon have been growing excellent on these lands every year. The extremely poor and landless char people, small and marginal farmers have brought over 90,000 hectares of land under crop cultivation this year to get excellent crop yield as the harvesting will continue till commencement of the rainy season.
Char dwellers Nurul Hossain, Aklima and Akbar, of village Char Montola, Sonavan of Kheruar Char, Afsar of Char Goynar Patal on the Brahmaputra bed in Chilmari upazila said they are expecting bumper crop production this year.
“We have already completed harvest of the cultivated mustard and vegetables and are expecting to begin harvest of pumpkin, onion, garlic, wheat, tobacco and many other crops to get excellent yield this season,” said Sultan of Char Korai Barisal village.
River-eroded people of village Paschim Mohipur under Gangachara upazila in Rangpur Mahbub Alam, Kobiza Begum, Abdur Razzaque and Morsheda Begum are expecting bumper production of their crops cultivated on the Teesta riverbed this season. Similarly, landless riverside people Manju Rani of Gaibandha, Abdul Aziz of Nilphamari, Farman Ali of Lalmonirhat and Nur Islam of Kurigram expected bumper output of their cultivated various crops including pumpkin on sandy-barren char lands.
They said each of them has cultivated pumpkin on 150 to 200 sandbars raised on the silted-up beds spending Taka 12,000 to 13,000 each to sell the produce at Taka 35,000 to earn net profit after completing harvest by the next couple of months.
According to sources, some 14,357 river-eroded families have achieved success by cultivating pumpkin on 5,099 acres of sandy-barren char lands by last year with assistance of Practical Action Bangladesh alone since 2009 in five greater Rangpur districts.
These landless families have also changed their fortune to lead better life though they lived in utter miseries for years together since becoming victims of river erosions, an official of Practical Action Bangladesh here said.
Talking to BSS, Horticulture specialist of the DAE Khondker Md Mesbahul Islam said crop cultivation has been taking place on the dried up and silted up beds of the rivers with emergence of shoals following adverse impacts of climate change.
Agriculture and Environment Coordinator of RDRS Bangladesh Mamunur Rashid said there is no alternative to reviving water flows in the rivers for better future, environment, agriculture, bio-diversity and ecology despite better crop production on riverbeds.
