As harvesting continues with excellent yield rate, the riverside and char people are expecting bumper production of various crops cultivated on dried-up riverbeds and char lands in Rangpur agriculture region, reports BSS.
Officials of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) said harvest of the cultivated crops on shoals, dried-up and silted-up riverbeds and char lands will continue till the commencement of the next rainy season.
The poor and landless char and riverside people, have brought over 90,000 hectares of char lands under farming of various crops in all five districts of the region during the current Rabi season.
The farmers have mostly cultivated pumpkin, mustard other oil seeds, watermelon, ‘kawn’, onion, garlic, chili, pulses, potatoes and other vegetables, maize, wheat, squash, gourd, capsicum, Boro rice, groundnut, tobacco and other crops on these lands.
“The char people already completed harvesting of mustard and some vegetables as the process will continue for the other crops,” said Deputy Director of the DAE at its regional office Agriculturist Md. Moniruzzaman.
Senior Coordinator (Agriculture and Environment) of RDRS Bangladesh Agriculturist Mamunur Rashid said crop cultivation on shoals, dried up riverbeds and char lands is expanding every year.
“More than 55,000 char and riverside households, who are beneficiaries of different NGOs, including RDRS Bangladesh, and government organisations, are cultivating crops in some 300 char villages and dried-up riverbeds of the region.
Of them, some 40,000 char and riverside families have achieved self-reliance by farming various crops on these lands changing their living standard in the last eleven years.
Manager (Agriculture) of Practical Action Bangladesh (PAB) Agriculturist Nirmal Chandra Bepari said around 25,000 char families with the support of the DAE and PAB have achieved success through pumpkin cultivation in char villages since 2009 in the region.
Talking to BSS, farmer Moktar Ali of village Char Taluk Shahbaz in Balapara union of Kawnia upazila in Rangpur said some 200 char and riverside families of the union have cultivated various crops, including pumpkin, on char lands on the Teesta riverbeds.
“I have cultivated pumpkin on 2.50 acres of sandy land to complete its harvesting by May next and earn a net profit of Taka 1.50-lakh excluding all expenses this season,” he said.
Maloti Rani of the same village said she has cultivated pumpkin on 180 sandbars on the Teesta riverbed spending Taka 80,000 this season.
“Five to seven pumpkins have appeared in every tree with an average weight between two to seven kg now,” she said, adding that she is hoping to earn a net profit of Taka 2.50-lakh this season. Similarly, farmers Matiar Rahman, Saiful Islam, Prafulla Barman, Suresh Roy, Parboti Barman and Maruf Hossain of Balapara union said they are expecting excellent profit from their crops cultivated on char lands in the same area this season.
Riverside farmers Mahbub Alam, Kochhim Uddin and Morsheda Begum of Char Paschim Mohipur village here said they are expecting lucrative profits after harvesting their cultivated pumpkins, onions, vegetables, potato and brinjal on char lands this season.
Additional Director of the DAE for Rangpur region Agriculturist Muhammad Ali said hundreds of char and riverside villagers have become self-reliant by cultivating various crops adopting intercropping methods on char lands in recent years.
