Bangladeshi farmers switch to alternatives to beat climate change

By Md. Kamruzzaman

SATKHIRA, Bangladesh (AA) – To combat challenges thrown by climate change, farmers in Bangladesh’s Satkhira district, 300 kilometers (186 miles) southwest of the capital Dhaka, have resorted to alternative agricultural practices for survival.

As increasing salinity in the soil and waters around had made producing crops almost impossible, farmers in consultation with experts have switched over to growing vegetables without preparing seedbeds.

“We are in a very critical condition. We very often suffer from dryness, cyclones, floods, salinity, and other disasters. During floods saline water inundates our croplands and due to climate change impacts salinity is also our common problem,” Dhananjoy Mondal, a farmer in Shyamnagar area, told Anadolu Agency while working on his small farm.

Supporting a piece of cloth called lungi tied around his lower waist with no shirt to cover the upper part of his body, Mondal said planting potatoes and some other crops have benefited them all.

“It’s amazing. We have never thought that while we have been suffering greatly from salinity and other problems, we can cultivate in such an easier way,” he said.

His wife Dipti Rani said that earlier they had planted potatoes using chemical fertilizers, but the harvest was poor due to salinity.

“After following the system of cultivation without preparing seedbeds and using locally-made bio-fertilizer, we are getting more crops now and these crops also last longer in the natural environment,” she said.

In this very new system, farmers keep the haystacks or wastes after collecting the common yearly crop of paddy. They just mix some cow-dung or homemade bio-fertilizer on the haystacks and then grow potatoes and some other vegetables on the ground covered by the half-rotten haystacks. It is a very easy system without long preparation for seedbeds.

They also use biodegradable mulching paper, which is placed on the ground around seedlings to allow farmers to cultivate using minimal water.

Besides, different types of vegetables are grown on the tower of mud to avoid salinity on the ground.

In the vertical agriculture system, crops are planted on mud or plastic-made pots and placed on a still or iron or bamboo-made tower in a circle to avoid salinity and dryness.

A big bowl with water is set on the top of this structure and through plastic, pipe water is served to the crops so that farmers can serve water to all crops with minimal reservoir and can avoid salinity.

- Dependence on rainwater

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, agriculturist and trainer Rakibul Hasan said that many farmers in the coastal area depended on rainwater for cultivation.

"They try to preserve water in ponds. But all do not have enough land for digging ponds. If they learn alternative ways of climate-resilient and water-saving agriculture, they can be benefitted,” he said.

According to the government data, 42 million people live in the coastal districts of Bangladesh. These regions are under severe threat of climate change. Environmentalists believe that a one-meter rise in sea level could inundate one-fifth of the country in near future. The increasing salinity has already affected the agriculture and income of farmers.

Shathi Joarder, a female student in Satkhira’s Munshiganj area, said the alternative and climate-resilient agriculture is very interesting.

“Due to pandemic restriction the in-presence academic activities were postponed for long and I have learned it and helped my father whenever I get an opportunity,” Joarder said.

Many other school-going teenagers and youths have also learned about climate-resilient agriculture during the pandemic restrictions.