<i>Displaced by river erosion, they started greening sandy chars</i>
Sandy char lands in Teesta River basin area in Gaibandha are now full of greenery. People displaced by river erosion cultivate different crops there. Phot shows mustard and paddy fields in a char in Sundarganj upazila of the district.Photo: STAR
Once barren sandy lands in the Teesta River basin area are now full of greenery as a large number of people, earlier displaced by river erosion, are farming paddy, wheat, pulses, potato, pumpkin and other vegetables there. During the last decade, vast areas of agricultural land and households in six of the 15 unions of Sundarganj upazila went into the bed of Teesta River, forcing a large number of people to shift to high lands and embankments in other areas. These people engaged in low paid menial labour for living. However, later pieces of landmass, locally called chars, emerged from the riverbed and gradual deposition of silt from the upstream during rainy season made them fertile and suitable for cultivation. During last three years, many of the earlier displaced people came to the newly emerged chars and stared farming there. "My family got displaced as we lost all our belongings due to the river erosion five years ago. Now I have come to the char and started farming as a sharecropper," said Alekuddin of Kapasia union. Local NGOs and donor agencies like Oxfam and Action Aid provide technical support to the farmers for cultivation on sandy chars, said Nazrul Islam, chairman of Kapasia union parishad. This season potato growers of char land achieved good yield and its market price is better than last year's. A maund of potato is selling for Tk 970 to Tk 1100, said Afzal Hossain, a farmer of Kapasia. "As per suggestion by a local NGO, I cultivated pumpkin on the sandy char last year and harvested 250 pieces of the vegetable. I sold 200 pieces for Tk 50 at par," said Hashem Ali of the same area. According to Sundarganj upazila agriculture office, this season target was set for farming wheat on 1220 hectares of land, mustard on 480 hectares, pulses on 180 hectares, chilly on 110 hectares, potato on 980 hectares, maize on 605 hectares, onion on 300 hectares, peanut on 35 hectares, tobacco on 150 hectares, and vegetables on 550 hectares of lands in the upazila. "Nearly 70 percent of the total of rabi crops in 15 unions of the upazila are now cultivated in char lands of six unions in the Teesta River basin area and it has changed the life of many people," said Satyen Kumar, agriculture officer, Sundarganj.
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