Farmers busy farming crops on charlands in greater Rangpur
Saturday, 20 December 2008
RANGPUR, Dec 19 (BSS): The landless char people are now very busy in cultivating various crops on charlands of the Brahmaputra, Dharla, Teesta and Jamuna as well as their tributaries in greater Rangpur during the current season.
Sources said large-scale cultivation on these lands has been taking place due to abnormal rise of the riverbeds with hundreds of shoals as a result of massive siltation in major rivers and their 22 tributaries much ahead of the dry season.
Cultivation of crops like maize, Boro, vegetables, groundnut, corn, pulses, mustard and other oil seeds, wheat, tobacco and watermelon is now going on in full swing on over 23,000 hectares of char in 28 upazilas of Rangpur, Lalmonirhat, Kurigram, Gaibandha and Nilphamari districts.
Farmers are expecting to bring such char and sandy-barren lands under cultivation for these crops to earn livelihoods and recoup the losses they incurred during the floods this year, the sources and local people said.
At present, most of the areas with young plants of maize, mustard, groundnuts and vegetables and other crops are giving an eye-catching look indicating to fulfill the expectation of the char growers in those districts.
The farmers, mostly landless, said they are facing problems in irrigation due to low flow in the tributaries and very little amount of water in the narrow channels of Dharla, Teesta and Brahmaputra.
By using shallow tube wells, they are watering the croplands but facing problems in reaching water to the remote char areas as the situation is not always favourable for crop farming in those lands.
Brahmaputra and Teesta have now almost dried up with the lowest ever water flow in the channels, giving rise to hundreds of shoals on their beds and hampering navigability that enables the farmers to grow crops on their beds, DAE officials said.
Local people and NGO experts said that irrigation, navigation, environment and biodiversity have been facing serious threats in both upstream and downstream areas due to the huge and continuous global climate change.
Sources said large-scale cultivation on these lands has been taking place due to abnormal rise of the riverbeds with hundreds of shoals as a result of massive siltation in major rivers and their 22 tributaries much ahead of the dry season.
Cultivation of crops like maize, Boro, vegetables, groundnut, corn, pulses, mustard and other oil seeds, wheat, tobacco and watermelon is now going on in full swing on over 23,000 hectares of char in 28 upazilas of Rangpur, Lalmonirhat, Kurigram, Gaibandha and Nilphamari districts.
Farmers are expecting to bring such char and sandy-barren lands under cultivation for these crops to earn livelihoods and recoup the losses they incurred during the floods this year, the sources and local people said.
At present, most of the areas with young plants of maize, mustard, groundnuts and vegetables and other crops are giving an eye-catching look indicating to fulfill the expectation of the char growers in those districts.
The farmers, mostly landless, said they are facing problems in irrigation due to low flow in the tributaries and very little amount of water in the narrow channels of Dharla, Teesta and Brahmaputra.
By using shallow tube wells, they are watering the croplands but facing problems in reaching water to the remote char areas as the situation is not always favourable for crop farming in those lands.
Brahmaputra and Teesta have now almost dried up with the lowest ever water flow in the channels, giving rise to hundreds of shoals on their beds and hampering navigability that enables the farmers to grow crops on their beds, DAE officials said.
Local people and NGO experts said that irrigation, navigation, environment and biodiversity have been facing serious threats in both upstream and downstream areas due to the huge and continuous global climate change.