Crops on dried up river beds
Farmers at Kalmati Char in Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila are now busy harvesting pumpkin as the cultivation on the dried up riverbed appears as a boon for them.Photo: STAR
Hundreds of erosion victims and landless farmers are cultivating various crops on vast tracts of the dried up river beds and char lands in the northern region. According to various sources, Rabi crops were cultivated on more than 50,000 hectares on the dried up beds of the Brahmaputra, Teesta, Dharla, Ghaghot, Jamuna and their tributaries and char areas in the recent years. The crop growers have cultivated various other crops including wheat, maize, mustard, pulses, boro, tobacco and vegetables. Experts and environmentalists said vast areas came under cultivation due to drying up of the rivers and rise of their beds with hundreds of shoals as a result of massive deposition of silts every year. The drying up of rivers and deposition of silts took place during the past four decades as a result of the adverse impacts of the ongoing global climate changes, lifting of underground waters and other reasons. Locals said cultivation of crops like maize, boro, pumpkin and other vegetables, groundnut, corn, pulses, mustard and other oil seeds, wheat, tobacco and watermelon is expanding every year. The crop growers have brought a record area of dried lands under cultivation for these crops and often having bumper yields.
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