Farmers show interest in farming water-saving crops in Barind area

RAJSHAHI, Dec 19 (BSS): In present context of water-stressed condition, interest among farmers towards growing less-water consuming crops has been increasing in the Barind area.
Hafizur Rahman, a farmer of Mushribhuja village under Volahat Upazila, said he is very happy over cultivating various less-water consuming crops like wheat, mustard, potato and lentil.
"I had to face many troubles to manage irrigation water for Boro cultivation," he added. But, the cultivation of water-saving crops is suitable for farmers of the area.
Ishrafil Haque, a volunteer of Nezampur village under Nachole upazila, said number of farmers and acreage of less-water consuming crops are increasing in the area every year. Dependence on only Boro farming is decreasing, he opined.
"We are getting supports of irrigation water, seed and fertilizer from Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) Project for cultivation of the crops," said Zenuara Khatun, a farmer of Gobratala village in Chapainawabganj Sadar.
On behalf of the project, more than 3,200 farmers were given the supports. They cultivated water-saving crops on more than 100 hectares of lands this season. Around 994 volunteers provide appropriate training to the farmers on how to cultivate more less-irrigated crops through water resource management.
The IWRM project is being implemented in 35 union councils and four municipalities in Rajshahi and Chapainawabganj districts since 2015 by DASCOH Foundation and Swiss Red Cross with financial support from Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation- SDC.
Assistant Coordinator of IWRM Project Jahangir Alam Khan says main thrust of the project is to build a sustainable and effective approach through farmers' level piloting of different sustainable water resource management models through effective farmers' participation.
Sharing his expertise Prof Chowdhury Sarwar Jahan of Department of Geology and Mining in Rajshahi University told the news agency that promotion effort of less-water consuming crops is laudable.
The call for growing less-water consuming crops should be taken seriously, not only for the sake of easing the pressure on decreasing underground water levels, but also for high nutritional value and for its relatively higher quantities of yield within limited land area.
For instance, he mentioned that wheat could be cultivated on seven to eight bighas of land with same amount of irrigation-water needed to irrigate one bigha of Boro rice through soil moisture utilisation and the best uses of modern technologies.
Agricultural scientist Dr Shakhawat Hossain viewed large-scale promotion of less-water consuming crops could be the effective means of mitigating water-stressed condition in the area.
Farmers in the hard Barind area need time-fitting training and motivation on how to cultivate more less-irrigated crops to lessen the existing pressure on groundwater.
Dr Shakhawat viewed there is no alternative to encourage the farmers to promote various cereal crops and vegetables instead of only Irri-Boro paddy on the dried land to face the water stress condition as its groundwater table has gradually been declining.