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Looking for new professions

As south-western people are robbed of their old jobs by environmental degradation, they fight to learn new ways of eking out a living

SHAMIM ASHRAF
Lifestyles and professions are rapidly changing in the southwestern region as environmental degradation and climate change threaten food security, access to potable water, housing and income opportunities.
Already suffering from land destruction, salinity intrusion, waterlogging, cyclones, storm surges and floods, people in the south-west are now suffering for a new set of challenges imposed by global climate change, including a further rise in the sea level, changes in river water, and increases in temperature. The results, including
increased salinity intrusion and waterlogging, have resulted in
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reduced biodiversity, diminished crop and fisheries production, as well as a potable water crisis.
Climate change is altering not only the way the south-west looks, but how its people live. Many in the region, who are largely dependent on agriculture and fisheries, have recently switched to other professions due to environmental constraints and the destruction of natural resources, knowing full well that climate change cannot be totally avoided.
"Many farmers of our village (Godana in Keshabpur upazila of Jessore) have migrated to Jessore town and are now working as rickshawpullers or vanpullers after floodwaters washed away their crops and logged their cultivable lands in 2000," Sunil Das, a local journalist, told The Daily Star.
Many farmers have become daylabourers working at earth-filling or paddy cutting, while many of those staying behind have begun working as day-labourers at shrimp enclosures.
One of the biggest impacts of climate change has been to the water supply. The water in most the upazila ponds has turned into saline, while tube-wells now fail to yield drinkable water. Besides giving birth to many diseases, this saline water has affected the cultivation of crops, vegetables and fish, spreading malnutrition among the poor.
At the same time, unprecedented sub-industries have begun sprouting to respond to the new challenges. As the potable water crisis deepens, for example, some people have started selling water. This correspondent found many people filling large containers with supply water in Satkhira town, and hauling them on three-wheeler vans to the villages, where they sell at Tk 15 to 20 a container. Many village women, meanwhile, have also started collecting water filtered from sweet-water ponds and selling them to villages suffering from the potable water crisis. "I charge Tk 8 to 10 for a pitcher of water as I have to walk a few kilometres to fetch the water," said Adori Rani, a 40-year-old widow of Sreeula village of Satkhira's Ashashuni upazila.
Agriculture has been hardest hit, further threatening cattle rearing, as described in an earlier Star reports. "The number of cattle is reducing
fast. We ourselves do not get enough food. How can we feed our cattle? Where will I get grass for them? See the surroundings, the shrimp enclosures everywhere," Kalidashi, a housewife of Natana village in Ashashuni, told The Daily Star.
Besides agriculture, vast fishery cultivation, the second largest profession in the region, has suffered a blow due to inundation and salinity, with sweet-water fishes waning from the salinity-hit areas and people limited to cultivating only those species that can grow in saline.
But hope may be on the horizon. To devise strategies for coping with the climate change, Care Bangladesh, while studying indigenous adaptation strategies in 2002, began testing practical measures at household and community levels in Khulna, Satkhira, Bagerhat, Jessore, Gopalganj and Narail districts.
They are working with local NGOs and civil society to raise awareness through cultural activities, publications and school programmes, including textbooks to popularise drought-resistant crops, floating gardens, duck and poultry rearing, crab cultivation, apiculture, homestead gardening, rainwater harvesting, cottage industries, introduction of portable cooking stoves and flood-proof storage and storm-resisting housing.
Following is a list of strategies currently underway for coping with climate change:
FLOATING GARDENS
Vegetable gardening on floating beds, locally known as Dhap or Baira, is increasing in popularity throughout waterlogged areas. "We prepare the beds by water hyacinth and rice paddy straw on stagnant water," said Abul Hossain, a poor farmer of Chandra village in Keshabpur.
The main crops cultivated in floating gardens are okra, cucumber, bitter gourd, kohlrabi, tomato, turmeric and potato.
"It brings us much benefit because we don't need any fertiliser as the decomposed hyacinth works as both soil and manure and lasts for a year, from which we farmers can harvest at least three crops," Hossain said, adding, "We can sell our vegetables at a higher rate as buyers ask for vegetables grown without chemical fertiliser."
REED CULTIVATION
Cultivation of Mele, a grass that can grow in high water levels and in moderate saline conditions, is playing an important role as an alternative source of income. The grass has several uses and can be harvested twice a year. When raw, it can be sold as cattle fodder, and after drying can be used as cooking fuel or to make local handicrafts, including durable and widely used mats and showpieces.
One pilot project of Care, Replacing Vulnerability to Climate Change (RVCC), is providing poor farmers with Mele seeds and capital to promote mele cultivation as a viable livelihood option.
"I've earned up to Tk 20,000 by selling mele produced in one bigha of land and handicrafts made of mele," said Kamini Kanta of Mandra village in Satkhira's Tala upazila.
CAGE AQUACULTURE
This small-scale fish farming technique has allowed poor waterlogged people of the south-western region access to common water bodies to earn their livelihood when agricultural production is hard hit. Fish are cultured in metal net cages in open water bodies such as rivers, canals or wetlands. The cages protect the fish fry until they are mature enough for harvesting.
APICULTURE
Abul Hashem, a former rice trader of Sonakhali Rajpat village in
Fakirhat upazila of Bagerhat,
attended a two-day workshop
conducted by a local NGO on apiculture last year when he was struggling to manage a square meal for his three-member family.
Inspired, he later bought eight boxes, collected bees and started apiculture at his house last April. "I collected 20 kilograms of honey in a month. It is cheap to cultivate and has a solid demand in the markets. I sell a kilo of honey at Tk 200-250." LOCAL RICE SPECIES
While high-yielding species of paddy fails to grow in waterlogged and salinity-hit lands, some local species - BR-23, Breedhan-40 and 41 - grow well in waterlogged areas, a study reports. Besides, Birpala, Sadamota, Jotbalam, Gondho-kosturui, Sabarimaloti, Haribhog and Harishankar grows in more waterlogged areas.