RANGPUR, March 6, 2021 (BSS) – Char people are delighted getting bumper
output with lucrative prices of various crops cultivated on dried-up
riverbeds and riverine char lands in Rangpur agriculture region.
Officials of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) said harvest
of cultivated crops on shoals, dried-up and silted-up riverbeds and char
lands continues in full swing and will end before the commencement of the
next rainy season.
The poor and landless char and riverside people have brought around one-
lakh 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, watermelon, ‘kawn’,
onion, garlic, chili, pulses, potatoes and other vegetables, maize, wheat,
squash, gourd, capsicum, Boro rice, groundnut and other crops on these lands.
“Char people already completed harvesting of mustard and many varieties of
vegetables as the process will continue for some other cultivated crops,”
said Deputy Director of the DAE at its regional office Agriculturist Md.
Moniruzzaman.
Tens of hundreds of char and riverside villagers have become self-reliant
by cultivating various crops adopting intercropping methods on char lands in
recent years in the region.”
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.
Thousands of 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 45,000 char and riverside families have achieved self-
reliance by farming various crops on these lands changing their living
standard with the support of the DAE and NGOs in the last 12 years.
Talking to BSS, farmer Moktar Ali of village Char Taluk Shahbaz in Kawnia
upazila of Rangpur said around 220 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 three acres of sandy land to complete its
harvesting by May next and earn a net profit of around Taka two-lakh
excluding all expenses this season,” he said.
Maloti Rani of the same village said she has cultivated pumpkins on 180
sandbars on the Teesta riverbed spending Taka 80,000 this season.
“I have already started harvesting pumpkins 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 Suresh Roy, Parboti Barman and Maruf Hossain of
Balapara union in Kawnia upazila of Rangpur said they are harvesting their
cultivated crops on char lands and expecting excellent profits this season
like last year.