BSS, Rangpur :
The landless char people, small, marginal and riverside farmers have been cultivating various Rabi crops now on vast tact’s of the dried-up riverbeds and char lands in the riverine areas of the northern districts.
Sowing of seeds of the crops has been continuing in full swing and the growing tender plants on the earlier sowed fields have wearing eye-catching looks creating enthusiasm among the char dwellers, riverside people and farmers.
Meanwhile, char people have already completed sowing of mustard seeds though the process continues for the other Rabi crops on dried-up riverbeds and char lands in the Brahmaputra basin to harvest those before commencement of the next rainy season.
According to the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) and NGO sources, cultivation of crops has been increasing on the char lands and dried-up riverbeds as well as their tributaries in the northern districts in recent years.
During the current Rabi season, about 78,000 hectares of land might be brought under crop cultivation on the dried-up beds of the Brahmaputra, Teesta, Dharla, Ghaghot and Jamuna, other rivers, tributaries and char areas in the northern districts.
Talking to BSS, char people Akbar Ali, Sohodeb Mohanta, Bulbuli Begum, Shahina and Abdus Sobhan said they have been cultivating crops on the dried up riverbeds and char lands this season to harvest those from February next to get bumper yield.
They said that the Teesta have now almost dried up, Dharla, Brahmaputra and other rivers also following the same with lowest water flows in their channels, giving rise to hundreds of shoals on their beds hampering navigability.
“This is the reason that enables us to grow crops on the dried-up riverbeds to earn livelihoods through adapt with the new mode of living and existence side by side with the ongoing huge climate change,” they said.
Horticulture Specialist of the DAE Khandaker Md. Mesbahul Islam said the farmers are cultivating mustard, wheat, maize, pulse, Boro, tobacco, vegetables, groundnut, pumpkin, ‘china’, ‘kawn’, pulses, ‘gunji till’, corn, watermelon and other crops this season.
He said abnormal drying up of the rivers and deposition of silts have been continuing alarmingly in recent decades due to climate change, lifting of underground waters and other manmade reasons paving the way for crop cultivation of the riverbeds.
Agriculture and Environment Coordinator of RDRS Bangladesh Mamunur Rashid said riverbed crop cultivation takes place due to drying up of the rivers and abnormal rise of their beds with hundreds of shoals as a result of massive silt deposition every year.
The cultivation of crops on the dried-up riverbeds, shoals and riverine islands is not at all good news though the people are cultivating crops there.
The landless char people, small, marginal and riverside farmers have been cultivating various Rabi crops now on vast tact’s of the dried-up riverbeds and char lands in the riverine areas of the northern districts.
Sowing of seeds of the crops has been continuing in full swing and the growing tender plants on the earlier sowed fields have wearing eye-catching looks creating enthusiasm among the char dwellers, riverside people and farmers.
Meanwhile, char people have already completed sowing of mustard seeds though the process continues for the other Rabi crops on dried-up riverbeds and char lands in the Brahmaputra basin to harvest those before commencement of the next rainy season.
According to the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) and NGO sources, cultivation of crops has been increasing on the char lands and dried-up riverbeds as well as their tributaries in the northern districts in recent years.
During the current Rabi season, about 78,000 hectares of land might be brought under crop cultivation on the dried-up beds of the Brahmaputra, Teesta, Dharla, Ghaghot and Jamuna, other rivers, tributaries and char areas in the northern districts.
Talking to BSS, char people Akbar Ali, Sohodeb Mohanta, Bulbuli Begum, Shahina and Abdus Sobhan said they have been cultivating crops on the dried up riverbeds and char lands this season to harvest those from February next to get bumper yield.
They said that the Teesta have now almost dried up, Dharla, Brahmaputra and other rivers also following the same with lowest water flows in their channels, giving rise to hundreds of shoals on their beds hampering navigability.
“This is the reason that enables us to grow crops on the dried-up riverbeds to earn livelihoods through adapt with the new mode of living and existence side by side with the ongoing huge climate change,” they said.
Horticulture Specialist of the DAE Khandaker Md. Mesbahul Islam said the farmers are cultivating mustard, wheat, maize, pulse, Boro, tobacco, vegetables, groundnut, pumpkin, ‘china’, ‘kawn’, pulses, ‘gunji till’, corn, watermelon and other crops this season.
He said abnormal drying up of the rivers and deposition of silts have been continuing alarmingly in recent decades due to climate change, lifting of underground waters and other manmade reasons paving the way for crop cultivation of the riverbeds.
Agriculture and Environment Coordinator of RDRS Bangladesh Mamunur Rashid said riverbed crop cultivation takes place due to drying up of the rivers and abnormal rise of their beds with hundreds of shoals as a result of massive silt deposition every year.
The cultivation of crops on the dried-up riverbeds, shoals and riverine islands is not at all good news though the people are cultivating crops there.
