Noakhali farmers now produce great grass instead of food crops

03 January, 2015

Syful Islam (RTNN): Many farmers in Nokhali district have started producing great grass (hogla pata) instead of cultivating food crops in some lands as part of their effort to get adapted to the impacts of climate change.

They said cultivating great grass in salinity-affected and water-logged lands is possible while other crops can hardly grow there.

The increased salinity in soil, nearly six months long water-logging each year, and lack of irrigation facility had put the farmers in Ramharitalu village of Noakhali Sadar upzila in immense difficulties with farming. In many lands of this area even the stress-tolerant rice varieties are not suitable for cultivation.

The salinity and water-logging in lands had increased in the recent years as the impacts of climate change have started to be more visible. Noakhali, a South Eastern Bangladeshi district, represents an extensive flat, coastal and delta land, located in tidal flood plain of the Meghna river delta. Climate change-induced disastrous events often hit the district and seawater frequently enters the land.

Once the farmers of the village had been producing a handsome volume of rice and other food crops, which is badly affected in the recent years. So, the farmers have turned to producing great grass as it can tolerate stresses.

Earlier, great grass was being produced in these lands naturally and poor people of the village produced different household items with those as an extra income. Since salinity and water-logging have affected rice and other food crop production there, farmers have started to produce great grass as main crop as this can withstand stresses.

Nearly ten years back Abul Bashar of Ramharitalu village started great grass business. He collected great grass from the locality and sold the same at nearby Khalifar hat and Rab market.

He established a small cottage farm five years back and appointed scores of workers, mainly women, to prepare different types of household products from great grass.

Mr Bashar now sells those products even in capital city of Dhaka among the owners of different handicraft shops. Being encouraged by Bashar’s success some 12,000 men and women of Nokhali Sadar upzila now produce eye-catching household items and sell those at nearest markets and other towns.

Bashar said producing food crops in the saline-affected and water-logged lands was not profitable and “we had been losing crops frequently”. “As a result we had no option but to find out a stress-tolerant crop and we found cultivating great grass to be a suitable option.”

“Cultivation of great grass has brought financial solvency to many farmers in Noakhali district,” said Mr Bashar.

Nurul Alam Masud, chief executive of Noakhali based Participatory Research Action Network (PRAN), said great grass is a water-borne tree which once grew naturally near the rivers and seashores.

“Nowadays farmers cultivate great grass commercially and its farming is expanding fast in Noakhali district. You don’t need to take care of great grass a lot and no fertilisers nor pesticides are needed for its cultivation,” he said adding presently more and more new lands are coming under great grass farming as farmers get good return from it.

Mr Masud said with impacts of climate change having started putting adverse effects, farmers themselves are finding out ways to get adapted with the changed situation.

http://www.english.rtnn.net//newsdetail/detail/1/4/60815#.VKjUXih0io4

Northern dist. farmers prefer mango farming to paddy

01 January, 2015

Syful Islam (RTNN): With water level continuously going down many farmers in country’s north-eastern districts nowadays prefer growing mango to paddy, posing a threat to food security.

The impacts of climate change are causing droughts in several north-eastern districts leading to a significant fall of water level. At the same time, the average rainfall in those districts nowadays has also reduced significantly creating water shortage which hampers rice cultivation.

Statistics collected from Hardinge Bridge area shows that during the last twenty years water levels at the river during rainy season were between 17 and 20 metres and in summer between 7 and 10 metres. The low water flow from upstream has caused riverbeds to be filled up with excessive sediments creating massive water crisis during rainy season.

Farmers of these drought-prone districts say they need to depend on irrigation to grow rice which becomes much costlier and minimises return. As a result farmers of a large area of the district are now growing mango in paddy fields finding it more profitable than rice cultivation.

Officials at department of agriculture said the volume of arable lands in Rajshahi district has come down to 185,666 hectares in 2013 from 202,803 hectares in 2010. The rest 14,000 hectares of land is now being used in mango farming.

They also said the diversion of farmers to mango farming from rice or wheat cultivation is posing threat to food security of the area. Farmers of the area had produced 672,337 tonnes of rice in 2010 which in 2013 came down to 598,435 tonnes.

In Bholahat union under Chapainawabaganj district some 30 to 35 per cent lands have now come under mango farming instead of paddy or wheat. A number of researchers of Rajshahi University found that during the drought season farmers need to depend on irrigation to produce rice. As a result the cost of rice production goes significantly up which led their diversion to mango from rice production.

Akbar Mia, a mango farmer in Bholahat union, said water scarcity has pushed them towards mango farming.

“We sometimes see that rice and other crops wither before maturity due to water shortage. So, we switched to mango production from paddy getting no other options,” he said.

At the same time mango farming is also increasing in Charghat and Godagari upzilas under Rajshahi district. As a result livelihood of several thousands of day-labourers in those areas is under threat as mango farming needs less manpower.

The area is under Barind Tract which is the largest Pleistocene era physiographic unit in Bangladesh and the Bengal Basin. Officials said water level in the Barind Tract has gone down by 15 feet in last ten years.

In Bangladesh farming with deep tube well water had started in 1960s which in Barind Tract began in 2012. According to a report of Barind Multipurpose Development Authority some 14,620 deep tube wells were installed in the area. The excessive water extraction through these tube wells has caused fall in water level.

Senior Scientific Officer of Mango Research Centre, Rajshahi Alim Uddin acknowledged rise of mango farming each year as it costs lower than cultivating other crops there.

He said mango is a very important agricultural item in this region. “Farmers find mango cultivation more profitable than other crops since mango farming needs less volume of water, pesticides, and nurturing.”

Chief Scientific Officer of Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) Shajahan Kabir said mango farming is rising in high drought-prone areas since cultivation of rice and other crops is not suitable there.

He said BRRI has recently introduced three drought-tolerant rice varieties to encourage farmers in drought-prone districts in rice production to keep food basket intact.

“We requested farmers to cultivate Aus varieties which need less irrigation than Boro rice,” he added.

http://www.english.rtnn.net//newsdetail/detail/1/3/60777#.VKjSIyh0io4