Floating vegetable farm in Bangladesh || Lalmonirhat farmers cultivate on abandoned water bodies

A farmer harvests from his floating vegetables bed in Kutripar village of Aditmari upazila, Lalmonirhat. Photo: Star

Bogra Sangbad Desk : Vegetable cultivation on floating beds prepared on abandoned water bodies has been a boon to several hundred landless farmers of around 25 villages in Lalmonirhat.

More than 400 farmers in the Lalmonirhat Sadar, Aditmari and Hatibandha upazilas are profiting from the unique farming in the Teesta and Dharla river basin areas.

Ahatullah Miah, 55, a farmer of Char Gobordhan village by the Teesta river, told The Daily Star that they prepared floating beds of water hyacinth “tightened” with bamboo and then spread vegetable seeds all over it.

The vegetables cultivated in such way include aubergine or eggplant, coriander, okra or ladies finger, green chilli, tomato, spinach, bottle gourd, mint, mustard and lal shak.

Vegetable cultivation on a 100-square-foot floating garden costs just Tk 360 to 400, and only regular care and physical labour are needed for getting expected results, he said.

Nurjahan Begum, 48, of the same village, said the money they were earning was also being used for their children's education.

As the vegetables are grown without the use of any pesticides, they are quite popular among local consumers. Farmers said people were buying those for higher prices.

Mirza Miah, a local at Char Balapara village in Aditmari upazila, said they prefer the vegetables grown on floating gardens as they are free from insecticides.

Many say the farming process that involves using local resources, especially rapidly growing water hyacinths, is as an environmentally sustainable way to use wetland areas for cultivation.

The floating bed cultivation, a long forgotten tradition in some rural areas of Bangladesh, could receive renewed interest as a potential solution for farmers whose lands have been waterlogged, and the landless ones, they add.

Source : The Daily Star