Every year there are reports of floods in the char areas. This year also, floods have inundated large areas of char and damaged aman paddy. The geological location of the char area and global climate change are both increasing the level of flooding. According to the fifth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), if the current level of greenhouse gas emissions is not reduced, the average global temperature will rise by about 3.6-4 degrees Celsius in 2100. This will increase the amount of high temperature days in summer and decrease the amount of winter days. As a result, the amount of rainfall per day will increase while the number of rainy days will decrease. This means that the amount of rainfall per day increases during the rainy season and the number of rainy days decreases at other times of the year. As a result, the incidence of floods continues to increase during the monsoon season in Bangladesh and the char area is its main target.
The Brahmaputra-Jamuna, Padma and Meghna and about 500 of their tributaries carry about 2.5 billion tons of soil particles with water every year. Regular poly dredging is very costly, which is very difficult for Bangladesh to handle. About one million hectares of chars have been formed by the accumulation of soil particles in the river. Soils flowing from the Himalayas contain sand, silt and clay. As sand particles are large and heavy in size, they are first deposited in the chars of the northern part of the country. Tired. As a result, the water holding capacity of chars in the northern and central regions of the country is less.
Due to geological reasons, floods occur in Char every year. However, in areas where a large number of tributaries are connected to the main river, the incidence of floods is higher. Although floods occur every year, the amount of damage to farmers depends on the extent of the flood. The timing and extent of the floods also depend on the timing and amount of rainfall in the Himalayas. The effects of climate change are having a visible impact on the nature of floods in Bangladesh.
Types of agricultural damage to chars in floods: It is normal for chars to be flooded every year. It is a special part of the life of a char farmer. But if the level of flood is high or its duration is long, the farmer suffers indescribably. When the incidence of floods is high, the biggest problem of the farmers is with the housing of cattle. The barn breaks down, the shortage of cow feed becomes apparent and the disease of the animals increases. Due to the location of chars in remote areas, theft or robbery of cows and goats also increases. So many times people and animals have to live in the same house. Due to lack of archives, crop seeds are destroyed in floods. Aman paddy, the main crop of the monsoon season, is destroyed. However, the extent of damage to aman paddy depends on the stability of the flood, the depth of flood water, the variety of paddy and the stage of growth of the plant. If the paddy seedlings are completely submerged within 20 days of planting and the flood lasts for two weeks, it will not be possible to protect the aman paddy. But if floods occur in the middle stage of Kushi growth, the farmers will get the expected yield even if the floods last for more than two weeks.
Things to do for flood-affected farmers and agriculture: It has been observed that in the year when the incidence of floods is high, the yield of Rabi season (winter) crop is good. This is because the higher the level of flooding, the higher the amount of sediment from the Himalayas. These sediments contain different types of food for the plants. Moreover, in the lands where aman paddy is destroyed during the monsoon, the farmer can cultivate rabi crops like wheat, pulses and oilseeds at the right time i.e. at the end of October or early November. As a result, the yield is as expected.
For many years, there was no major flood after August. In such cases, even if the aman paddy is wasted, if the seedlings are provided, short-term aman paddy such as BU paddy-1, brie paddy 56, without paddy 6 can be cultivated again. It is also possible to produce rice seedlings at the farmer level. Therefore, it is possible to produce seedlings by floating method or Dapog method. However, it will not be right to plant new aman paddy in the lands from which the flood waters do not recede even in the second week of September. This is because the yield will be severely reduced and rabi crops will not be cultivated in that land at the right time. But in lands where the flood waters recede before mid-September, a second planting of seedlings can be done in the lands by raising the paddy husks of high ground and planting 2-3 husks in each bunch. If the kushi is between 10-12 days old, then the main bunch will not be much damaged. It should be noted that 2 kushis can be picked from the bunch of paddy of the main land which has at least 7-8 kushis. If these kushis are planted, it will grow fast and give birth to new kushis and the farmer will be able to compensate the loss even if it is a little bit. If the flood waters persist after the second week of September, then it would not be right to plant aman paddy in these lands at all. Instead, short-term varieties of masakalai or leafy vegetables can be grown as cow grass for the interim period. The flood-affected land must be prepared at the right time, i.e. at the beginning of November, for the cultivation of rabi crops such as wheat, maize, potatoes, pulses, etc. On the other hand, after the flood waters receded, the disease of cattle increased. Special care should be taken to protect it from diseases.
If there is no bumper crop of this year's rabi crop in the char area, there will be no limit to the suffering of the farmers. Therefore, farmers need to be given special training on improved cultivation of rabi crops especially wheat, maize, potato and pulses. The farmer has to provide agricultural inputs including seeds in advance. In order to increase the agricultural production in the char areas, the farmers have to provide adequate subsidy on agricultural inputs. Subsidies on char agriculture are the government's real agricultural investment. Many times the field officers of the agriculture department of the government are not interested in working in remote chars. As a result, char farmers are deprived of new technology or may find out later. The main reason for this is the extremely fragile transportation system. It should be kept in mind that if char farmers are discouraged from farming, it will be a serious threat to food security in Bangladesh. Because the high and good agricultural land is decreasing at the rate of about 0.60 percent every year. This is why the char is called the 'Hidden Diamond of Agriculture'. Because about one million chars are the future food source of Bangladesh.
Since floods occur every year in the chars and there is a good chance of further rise in temperature due to climate change in the future, special agricultural projects should be undertaken on the agricultural management of the chars. It can be seen that the information of modern agriculture reaches the inaccessible chars much later. Sonalika wheat is still cultivated in the vast char areas of Kurigram, which agricultural scientists have long been discouraging. But in other parts of the country, Bari wheat-26 or 28 is already being cultivated popularly. Char grains can be cultivated smoothly. However, due to the high sand content in the northern and Padma char soils, the water holding capacity of the soil is low. Char areas therefore require more irrigation than other areas. Irrigation pumps have to be run on diesel as there is no electricity facility in the char. This greatly increases the cost of crop production. Since the seeds of the farmers are lost in the floods, it is necessary to organize the farmers centrally and create seed storage facilities. If the incidence of floods is high, the farmer has to ensure agricultural materials including seeds for smooth cultivation of rabi crop. Moreover, the central barn can be made high by the government to keep cattle during floods. If proper arrangements are not made for the treatment of cattle, the char farmers will not be encouraged to raise improved breeds of cattle. Fishery scientists believe that it is possible to cultivate fast growing fish in the rainy season using cage or panculture method. But for that the farmer has to arrange special incentives including training. Char fish fry are not easily available to farmers. That is why we have to cooperate with the char farmers collectively. The government must now take practical steps to improve the agricultural management of chars for food security in Bangladesh.
