Farmers in Rangpur boost profits cultivating eco-friendly, pesticide-free vegetables on char lands. Photo : BSS

By Md Mamun Islam
 
RANGPUR, Dec 23, 2025 (BSS) - Many farmers, including women, are making good profits by adopting eco-friendly farming techniques in cultivating pesticide-free vegetables in char areas to change their fortunes in Rangpur agricultural region.
 
Varieties of vegetables and spicy crops like brinjal, sweet pumpkin, balsam, basil, carrot, radish, spinach, pumpkin, cabbage, cauliflower, squash, onion, garlic, gourd, green chilli and tomato are mostly being cultivated in char lands on the Brahmaputra basin in the region.
 
Inspired by the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), many landless, small and marginal farmers living in char and riverside villages have cultivated pesticide-free vegetables on char lands in all five districts of the region this season.
  
The vegetables are being cultivated adopting eco-friendly agriculture technologies and intercropping methods using organic fertilisers and improved agronomic management to produce more nutritious vegetables.
 
Additional Director of the DAE for Rangpur Krishibid Md Shirajul Islam said that farmers are cultivating pesticide-free vegetables using composts and organic pesticides without using chemical pesticides on char lands like in mainland.
      
Popularisation of ecological agriculture like cultivation of pesticide-free vegetables on char areas with application of biofertilizers and composts can reduce negative impacts of conventional agriculture on public health, environment and ecology.

"Many farmers in the mainland and riverside areas of Rangpur, Gaibandha, Kurdgram, Lalmonirhat, and Nilphamari districts of the Rangpur agricultural region are now cultivating pesticide-free vegetables," he added. 
 
Kawnia Upazila Agriculture Officer in Rangpur Krishibid Most Tania Akhter said Bangladesh is a riverine country where many people are living in char areas and erosion, floods, droughts and adverse situations have become their companions.
      
Considering these aspects, the DAE is providing training, inputs and counseling to char and riverside people on farming pesticide-free vegetables adopting eco-friendly technologies on char areas. 
      
"Being inspired, char people are expanding cultivation of pesticide-free vegetables adopting eco-friendly agriculture technologies and intercropping methods to enhance production of hygienic vegetables in riverine char areas," Krishibid Tania added.

In Kawnia upazila alone, people have cultivated pesticide-free vegetables on more than 300 hectares of char lands and dried-up riverbeds to enhance production of hygienic vegetables on the Teesta riverbed during the current Rabi season.
 
"Following motivational activities being conducted by field level agriculture officials, cultivation of pesticide-free vegetables on char lands continues increasing in the upazila," she added. 
 
Local sub-assistant agricultural officer (SAAO) Md Mohar Ali of Balapara union in Kawnia upazila said farmers are cultivating chemical pesticide-free vegetables on char lands adopting latest technologies and reaping good profits. 
 
"Farmers are expanding cultivation of pesticide-free vegetables using composts and organic pesticides without using chemical pesticides to produce more hygienic vegetables and reap more profits," he said.
 
Talking to BSS, housewife Bijlee Begum of village Char Pran Nath in Kawnia upazila of Rangpur said she has changed fortune through farming pesticide-free brinjal on char lands adopting eco-friendly technologies. 
       
"I got an opportunity to participate in a training course on eco-friendly vegetable farming. The DAE and RDRS Bangladesh jointly arranged the training course in her area," Bijlee said.
 
Inspired by the DAE and using the knowledge gained from the training course, Bijlee started cultivating brinjal with her husband seven years ago on char land along the erosion-prone Teesta River.
 
"I applied vermin composts and used sex pheromone traps while farming brinjal adopting eco-friendly technologies without using chemical fertilisers or pesticides. I am now getting excellent yield and profits," said Bijlee.
 
Farmers Farhad Hossain, Belal Hossain and Habibur Rahman of Char Harin Sharma village in the same upazila said they are preparing to harvest early varieties of pesticide-free vegetables with a hope to reap excellent profits following lucrative prices.