17 LEISA INDIA  DECEMBER 2004 Planting a floating bed with seedlings contained in tema (compost balls) Cultivating wetlands in Bangladesh A. H. M. Rezaul Haq, Tapan Kumar Ghosal and Pritam Ghosh T he village Chandra is situated in the southwest part of Bangladesh on the banks of the river Kabodak, which flows from Jessore to the Bay of Bengal. In the past, the 1500 villagers depended on the river for agriculture, aquaculture, transport and other daily activities. At least 300 villagers had land on the bank of the river and when the river flooded its banks, silt carried by the water was deposited on the land, making it fertile and providing the farmers with good crops. Most of the villagers farmed their land and maintained their livelihoods in happiness. The village was also famous throughout Bangladesh for its mango, jackfruit and dates. In course of time, however, the river became a curse instead of a blessing. In early 1960s, the then East Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority engaged in the Coastal Embankment Project (CEP) to convert the seasonally flooded coastal wetlands into reclaimed land for permanent agricultural production under the Green Revolution Programme, as well as to protect human settlements from the floods. This large-scale engineering intervention ignored the agro-ecological system of the south-west region and disrupted the ecologically complex and highly productive coastal wetland ecosystem. The reclaimed land is now isolated from the river and does not receive any silt to improve its fertility. The silt load is instead deposited in the river, blocking the drainage of the area and leading to permanent water logging. This situation makes both agriculture and aquaculture activities impossible. Social demoralization, diseases, unemployment and migration have increased in the village. The Water Development Board of the Government has not been able to reduce the waterlogging, which takes over an additional 4000 hectares per year. The view of experts and local people is that there is no other way out, but to live with water. Problems in Chandra The river is fully congested with water hyacinths (Eichhornia crassipes) and other aquatic weeds and has become a breeding ground for mosquitoes. As the carrying capacity of the river has been reduced and the drainage system has broken down, the water level now rises by more than 2.5 metres during the monsoon. As the flooding stays for 60 - 90 days, trees like mango, jackfruit and date palm do not survive and the waterlogged lands have not produced any yield for the past six years. Without food or safe drinking water, villagers have been forced to migrate elsewhere. The people of Chandra had been seeking an ecologically sound alternative food production system for their waterlogged areas. To improve the livelihoods and food security, the Wetland Resource Development Society (WRDS), a voluntary Research and Development organization, proposed soil-less agriculture as a possible solution for the villagers of Chandra. Considering the regular flooding every year, the waterlogging, availability of aquatic weeds and the situation of the landless farmers, this farming system was considered suitable for the area and capable of high agricultural production. Today, WRDS is implementing soil-less agriculture in waterlogged areas of the south west region of Bangladesh under the project of CARE- RVCC (Reducing Vulnerability to Climate Change), funded by CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency). Soil-less agriculture Soil-less agriculture or hydroponics (a Greek word, hydro means water and ponos means labour) is an indigenous practice of sustainable wetland utilization in parts of south- west Bangladesh. People living within the wetland ecosystem utilize locally available paddy straw, water hyacinths and various aquatic plants for making floating islands of organic material on which crops, seedlings and vegetables are grown. The productivity of this farming system is more or less 10 times higher than traditional land-based agricultural production. This farming system is locally known as baira, geto, bed or dhap. After cultivation, the remains of the floating organic bed is rich in nutrients and make good compost. This Photo: T.K. Ghosal