Landless farmers make sandy land green

Many sandy chars of Teesta, Dharla and Brahmanputra rivers have turned green as thousands of landless char farmers are growing pumpkin on those chars in Lalmonirhat, Kurigram, Gaibandha, Nilphamari and Rangpur.

Landless farmers at Dharla Char in Kurigram Sadar upazila said they are given training on using char land for farming crops, especially pumpkin, by a non-governmental organisation (NGO) Practical Action Bangladesh (PAB), which also provides technical and input support.

Earlier, they did not use char sandy land as they thought no crops could be cultivated on such land, but PAB showed that they were wrong, they said, adding that chars give them bumper production of crops every year.

Atiar Rahman, 55, of Brahmaputra river char in Chilmari upazila, said he and many other landless farmers have been farming pumpkin in sandy char lands for the last few years. “I have cultivated 300 pumpkins on 24 decimals of land this year. My target is to produce 500 to 700 pumpkins weighing about 2,500 to 3,500 kgs. 

Delowar Hossain, 63, of Teesta river char in Lalmonirhat Sadar said they dig a hole two to three feet deep and put organic fertiliser in it for farming pumpkin in chars, adding that a regular supply of water is needed.

“We get technical and input support from PAB but not from the government. If the government provides support to us we can use more idle char lands every year,” said Nurul Islam, 58, of Teesta river char at Kaunia upazila.

Kurigram District Coordinator of PAB's Extreme Poverty Programme SM Mutakabbirul Haque said they provide seeds, fertiliser, irrigation water and training to landless char farmers for growing crops in abandoned chars. “Each of the 2,100 beneficiary farmers is cultivating pumpkin on 24 decimals of char land, and 130 chars are covered with pumpkins now,” he added.

Assistant Director of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) in Rangpur Shah Alam said at least 10,000 landless char farmers are engaged in pumpkin farming on the chars in the Teesta, Dharla and Brahmaputra river char areas in five districts. About 35,000 to 40,000 tonnes of pumpkins are produced in these chars every year.

Pumpkin farming brings solvency to the landless char people, Shah Alam said, adding that they also grow other crops in the char areas during the dry season.