RANGPUR, Jan 25, 2021 (BSS) – Braving the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, thousands of farmers and common people are expecting a bumper production of various crops cultivated on riverine char lands in Rangpur agriculture region.
Officials of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) said char people have cultivated various winter crops, mostly adopting intercropping and relay methods, on char lands and dried-up riverbeds on the Brahmaputra basin in the region.
Meanwhile, harvest of onion, vegetables, early varieties of pumpkin and other crops has already begun on char lands and dried-up riverbeds as the harvesting process will end by late May next before commencement of the rainy season.
“Many char and riverside people are reaping profits from their harvested early varieties of winter crops to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic situation,” Deputy Director of the DAE at its regional office Agriculturist Md. Moniruzzaman told BSS today.
Char people started sowing seeds of various Rabi crops, mostly adopting intercropping and relay methods, from October last on char lands following the appearance of shoals with massive deposition of alluvial soils during recent floods.
“Landless char people as well as small and marginal farmers have cultivated crops on around one-lakh hectares of char lands in the region during this Rabi season,” Moniruzzaman said.
Varieties of crops like potato, sweet pumpkin, brinjal, onion, garlic, green chili, banana, mustard, pulses, cauliflower, groundnut, wheat and many varieties of vegetables have been cultivated on sandy char lands and dried-up beds.
Tender plants of crops are growing superbly now on char lands, shoals and silted- up beds of the Brahmaputra, Teesta, Dharla, Dudhkumar, Ghaghot and Jamuna, Atrai, Kartoa and other rivers and tributaries in the region.
Talking to BSS, Senior Coordinator (Agriculture and Environment) of RDRS Bangladesh Mamunur Rashid said crop cultivation on char lands and silted-up riverbeds continues increasing in Rangpur agriculture region during the past three decades.
“Expanded cultivation of crops on char lands has already brought fortune to many farmers and landless people living in char areas of Rangpur, Gaibandha, Kurigram, Nilphamari and Lalmonirhat districts in the region,” he said.
Around 22,000 char households have cultivated vegetables and many other crops in over 240 char villages of all five districts of the region this season.
“More than 20,000 char families have already achieved self-reliance through farming various crops on char lands changing their living standard and livelihoods,” Rashid added.
Talking to BSS, char people Mahbub Alam, Abdur Razzaque and Morsheda Begum of village Paschim Mohipur in Gangachara upazila of Rangpur said they have won extreme poverty through farming various crops on char lands over the years.
They have already started harvesting their cultivated early varieties of pumpkin, brinjal, onion and other crops on the dried-up Teesta riverbed and char areas to get lucrative prices and lead a better life despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I have cultivated pumpkin, onion, garlic and vegetables adopting intercropping methods on dried-up beds of the Teesta to complete harvesting those by May next,” said landless riverside farmer Kochhim Uddin of the same village.
Similarly, riverside people Abdul Aziz of village Char Dakshin Kharibari in Nilphamari and Nur Islam of village Char Korpura in Kurigram are expecting bumper production of their cultivated crops on char lands this season.