Rangpur: Due to the bountiful crop yield in the char areas and good market prices of the produce, an Eid atmosphere has been created in the riverside char areas of the Rangpur region, where local residents are now busy buying Eid items. People living along the banks of the rivers and sandy char areas in Rangpur, Gaibandha, Kurigram, Lalmonirhat, and Nilphamari districts are eagerly preparing for the upcoming Eid-ul-Fitr celebrations, along with harvesting their cultivated crops.
According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, following the bumper crop yield in char areas this season, income-generating activities, and changes in their socio-economic status with the benefits of social safety-net programmes, the char people are now busy buying Eid items within their capacities. Previously, the char people had to live in indescribable misery as extreme poverty consumed their fate, while child marriage, dowry, superstitions, malnutrition, and lack of clean drinking water and hygienic sanitation facilities made their lives miserable.
Currently, the situation in the vast char areas has changed where people are earning well from their income-generating activities, animal husbandry, and crop cultivation, and preparing to celebrate the upcoming Eid-ul-Fitr in a festive atmosphere. Dr. Syed Shamsuzzaman, chairman of the Rangpur-based research organization ‘North Bengal Institute of Development Studies’, noted that despite living in adverse climatic conditions, the socio-economic condition and livelihood of char people are improving.
“With the implementation of comprehensive social safety-net programmes, income-enhancing activities and crop cultivation on about 82,000 hectares of char land, the socio-economic conditions of char people in Rangpur region continue to see positive changes,” he said. As a result, the Eid atmosphere is prevailing in char areas where local people have started to gain an economic base and improved livelihoods, while also removing social curses through continued GO-NGO support and expansion of crop cultivation.
“The government’s intervention has stabilized the prices of essential commodities and helped the people of Char live a better life. Many of them are buying clothes and other Eid items to celebrate the upcoming Eid-ul-Fitr festival,” added Dr. Samsuzzaman. Char people are now harvesting their cultivated crops in full swing and getting excellent yield with rewarding market prices and taking preparations with enthusiasm to celebrate the upcoming Eid-ul-Fitr.
Farmer Aminul Islam of Char Taluk Shahbaz village in Kawnia upazila of Rangpur expressed satisfaction over the bumper output with lucrative prices of his cultivated crops in char lands on the dried-up Teesta riverbed this season. Shahinur Islam and Fancy Begum, a couple from Char Purbo Mohipur in Gangachara Upazila of Rangpur, have already sold harvested crops at Taka 1.20 lakh and expect to earn a net profit of Taka 2.5-lakh excluding all expenses after completing harvest by May next.
Deputy Director of the Burirhat Horticulture Center of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in Rangpur Dr. Md Abu Sayem mentioned that char people are making good profits from crop farming on char lands every year in the Rangpur region. “Eid fervor is prevailing in char areas where people are busy in harvesting their cultivated crops and purchasing Eid items to celebrate the Eid-ul-Fitr in a festive atmosphere,” he added.