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Floating veg gardens catch growers' eye

S DlLIP Roy, Lalmonirhat
Vegetable cultivation on floating gardens in abandoned water bodies brings good prospect for marginal farmers in Teesta and Dharla basin areas of Lalmonirhat Sadar, Aditmari and Hatibandha upazilas under the district.
Around 250 marginal farmers at 20 villages of the three upazilas are engaged in cultivating vegetables on floating beds this season, being encouraged by local NGO Own Village Advancement (OVA) that initiated the project with 100 marginal farmers at seven villages of Aditmari upazilain2011.
Such vegetables, cultivated without any insecticides, have already gained popularity among local consumers who are buying it for prices higher than that of other vegetables in the market, the growers said.
They prepared floating beds of water hyacinth 'tightened' with bamboo frames and cultivated different vegetables including aubergine, coriander, okra, green chilli, tomato, spinach, bottle gourd, mint, mustard and lai shak in different water bodies.
Vegetable cultivation on a 100-square-foot floating garden costs only
Tk 350 to 400, farmers said. However, regular care is needed for getting expected output from there.
Floating bed cultivation, a long forgotten tradition in some rural areas of Bangladesh, is now receiving renewed interest as a potential solution for landless farmers and those who see persistent waterlogging in their farmland, said Mohammad Nuruzzaman, Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila agriculture officer.
Using local resources, especially rapidly growing water hyacinths, the process is as an environmentally sustainable way to use wetland areas for cultivation, he said.
Nur Hossain, 46, a marginal farmer of Kutirpar village of Aditmari upazila, said, "I cultivated vegetable on a 140 square feet floating bed at an abandoned government water body in our village early October last year. After meeting our family need, I have earned overTk3,000 by selling the produces."
Firoza Begum, 44, another marginal farmer of the same village, said the money earned by selling vegetables from a 160-square-foot floating bed helped bear schooling cost of her children, in addition to meeting their domestic requirement.
Bhanu Ranjon Roy, a teacher of Parulia High School in Hatibandha upazila, said he prefers the vegetables grown on floating gardens as they are free from harmful insecticides.
Several marginal farmers including Azizar Rahman, Nuton Bewa, Taher Ali, and Nuruzzaman Miah of Char Balapara village in Aditmari upazila said they started cultivating vegetables on floating gardens last year.
As they got good output, they prepared more floating beds to cultivate vegetables this year, they said, adding that now more people are encouraged to adopt this profitable farming.
OVA is implementing the project funded by UK-based development organisation Practical Action Bangladesh and only marginal farmers ate listed for thisproject, said officials of theNGO.
Abdul Mazid, deputy director of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) in Lalmonirhat, said, "Two hundred and fifty marginal farmers of 20 villages in three upazilas of Lalmonirhat district prepared floating vegetable beds with the technical support from DAE and the NGO this season and the project will see expansion the next season."