Rangpur: Many people living in char areas in the Rangpur agricultural region are meeting their nutritional needs and also earning a good income by cultivating pesticide-free vegetables in their homesteads.
According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, officials from the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) have noted that homestead vegetable farming without pesticides is helping char people meet their nutritional demand in many char villages across all five districts of the Rangpur region.
Dr. Md Abu Sayem, Deputy Director of the Burirhat Horticulture Centre of the DAE in Rangpur, told BSS that pesticide-free homestead vegetable gardening has become popular among char people and is bringing more profits to them. Along with the government, under GO-NGO initiatives, many char families living in char areas have raised their plinths, paving the way for vegetable gardening in their homesteads. Before taking up vegetable farming as their means of subsistence, char families lived in misery alongside the Brahmaputra, Teesta, Dharla, and other rivers in the past across the region.
Md Mamunur Rashid, a PhD fellow at the Department of Agricultural Extension of Haji Mohammad Danesh University of Science and Technology, said raised plinths of houses saved char families from floods, also paving the way for homestead vegetable gardening. “Many char people are meeting their nutritional needs and earning through homestead vegetable gardening as well as other income-generating activities with the help of the government and other development agencies,” he added.
Talking to BSS, a number of char people said they are mostly cultivating pumpkin, bean, Korola, Chichinga, Borboti, Patol, Kakrol, squash, Jhinga, Shosha, bottle gourd, brinjal, green chilli, Lal Sak, onion, garlic, and other vegetables in their homesteads. Housewives Aklima Khatun, Nur Jahan, and Bijlee Begum of Char Pran Nath village in Kawnia upazila of Rangpur said they have changed their fortunes through farming pesticide-free brinjal, adopting eco-friendly technologies on char lands over the years.
Inspired by the DAE, many other char people have started cultivating brinjal on char lands on the Teesta riverbed in Gangachara, Kawnia, and Pirgachha upazilas of Rangpur and in other areas of Lalmonirhat and Gaibandha districts. Monser Ali and Dhirendra Nath of Char Chawrabari village on the Dharla riverbed in Phulbari upazila of Kurigram said they are expecting to reap better profits by selling their cultivated pesticide-free brinjal from one bigha of land this season.
Housewife Ambia Khatun of Char Ghughumari village in Roumari upazila of Kurigram said she cultivates vegetables in her homesteads to meet the nutrition demand of her five family members and earn well to lead a better life. Agriculturalist Md Sirajul Islam, Acting Additional Director of the DAE in Rangpur region, said vegetable gardens are expanding every year in char areas of the Rangpur region using environmentally friendly technologies and without the use of pesticides. “Many char families have become self-sufficient by growing vegetable gardens in their homesteads and selling the surplus produce after meeting their nutritional needs, improving their livelihood and nutritional status,” he said.