Bumper output of crops cultivated on char lands and dried-up riverbeds brought smile to hundreds of people living on riverine char areas during the just-ended Rabi season in Rangpur agriculture region.
Experts and officials of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) said char people and riverside marginal farmers completed harvest of their various crops safely last week before commencement of the rainy season.
“This time, riverside and char people cultivated crops on 91,000 hectares
of char lands and dried-up riverbeds in all five districts of the region,”
Horticulture Specialist of DAE at its regional office Agriculturist Khondker
Md. Mesbahul Islam told BSS today.
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With expanded cultivation of various crops on char lands and dried up
riverbeds in riverine areas in recent times, hundreds of small and marginal
farmers, poor and landless char people changed their fortune and improved
living standard.
The char people mostly cultivated potato, squash, pumpkin, brinjal, gourd
and other vegetables, onion, green chili, garlic, ginger, maize, wheat, Boro
rice, groundnut, ‘kawn’, pulses, ’till’, tobacco, pulses, mustard with bee
farming and watermelon this time.
Talking to BSS, char people Mofizul Haque and Amena Begum of village of
Dakshin Balapara Kutirpar char village in Lalmonirhat said they achieved
bumper production of crops cultivated on char lands this season.
“Every farmer spent Taka 1,500 for cultivating pumpkin on 120 sandbars and
sold 500 pieces of pumpkin at Taka 18,000 on an average to earn a net profit
of Taka 16,500 each this time,” said farmer Fazlul Haque of the same village.
Farmer Afroza Khatun of the village said she cultivated pumpkin on 100
sandbars spending Taka 1,500 and sold the produce at Taka 18,500 to earn a
net profit of Taka 17,000 this season to improve her livelihoods.
Char people Abul Kashem and Anwarul Islam of village Paschim Mohipur in
Rangpur said they spent Taka 18,000 each for cultivating pumpkin on 200
raised sandbars and sold the produce at Taka 42,000 earning profit of Taka
24,000 each this time.
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“I cultivated pumpkin, onion, garlic and vegetables on the dried-up beds of
the river Teesta to completed harvest in March last to earn better profits,”
said landless riverside farmer Abdur Razzaque of the same village.
Riverside marginal farmers Raihanul Haque, Afzal Hossain and Abdul Haque of
village Char Dakshin Kharibari in Nilphamari and Mohidul Islam of Char
Khuniagachh in Lalmonirhat also got bumper output of various crops this
season.
Char people Noor Jahan, Omela Khatun and Nurul Alam of village Machabandha,
Abdus Sobhan of village Char Montola and Sohrab Ali of Char Korai Barisal in
Kurigram said they got bumper output of their crops cultivated on riverbeds
this year.
Senior Coordinator (Agriculture and Environment) of RDRS Bangladesh
Agriculturist Mamunur Rashid said crop cultivation on char lands and silted-
up riverbeds is increasing every year in Rangpur agriculture region in last
four decades.
Regional Additional Director of the DAE Agriculturist Mohammad Ali said local people are cultivating various crops on dried up riverbeds and char areas following continuous deposition of alluvial soil and earning better profits to improve their livelihoods.
(BSS)
