REPORTING FROM BIBIYANA (HABIGANJ): The Kushiara River gently gurgles by. Even during the dry season, thousands of cusecs of water would flow past. But, just beside that, it seemed like a vast desert.
Despite the rich, fertile soil, difficulties with irrigation meant that nothing could be harvested apart from Amon rice. To complicate matters further, Amon was a seasonal crop. If it failed to rain, the entire investment would be in vain. Therefore, many stayed away from Amon cultivation.
But all this now seems like a distant memory to many of the locals. Thanks to Chevron’s construction of an irrigation canal, and other agricultural support, Habiganj district’s Rajbanda village has now been transformed into triple-crop land.
Spread over nearly 5,000 acres, to the east of Rajbanda is the village of Doulatpur; Kushiara is to the west; to the north-east is Radhapur, and to the south lies Nadampur. Rajbanda is now part of a golden belt.
As fertile as the soil is, below the surface of the ground lies a rich reserve of natural gas. Owing to lack of irrigation facilities, the land would remain unutilized for the better part of the year.
Installation of deep tube-wells in this area was cost prohibitive; the alternative water source presented by the Kushiara River was inaccessible to the farmers. Equally out of their reach was the deep tube-well installed by Bangladesh Rural Development Board near the Bibiyana River, grazing the banks of Kushiara.
It was at this point that international oil company, Chevron Bangladesh came to the farmers’ rescue. They constructed a canal to connect the aforementioned deep tube-well to the village of Rajbanda.
And this has brought about a revolutionary change to the farming activities of the villagers. What used to be single-crop land in the village of Rajbanda has now been converted into triple-crop land. Aside from Aush, Amon and Boro rice, the cultivation of cucumber, wheat and watermelon has spun their wheels of fortune.
Aside from the landowners themselves, there has been a significant change in the lives of the farmers as well. Those who sat idle for most of the year are now weaving their futures anew – either by working as labourers, or as sharecroppers.
Furthermore, they’re investing their wages (earned as hired hands) into their leaseholds.
One such farmer is Kosba village’s Taher Ali, son of Sher Ali.
He tells Banglanews that Boro rice couldn’t be cultivated in the area before. Since Amon was all they could plant, they had work for three months at the most. The remaining nine months of the year was spent idle. But things are different now. Taher has now leased 2.5 acres of land for Boro cultivation. He worked as a laborer on a second plot of land, and has invested those earnings to harvest the Boro.
Having no other cultivable land, he had to buy rice throughout the year for his family of five. This would cause him no end of worry all year round.
But Taher Ali does not have to buy rice this year. He has harvested 38 maunds of rice this season, and hopes to be able to sell some later.
At the other end of the chain, landowners are equally thrilled. Where they used to get one crop from their plot of land, they are now getting three.
From the village of Kosba, Golam Hossain, son of Shomoj Ali tells Banglanews that he has 18 bighas of land in Rajbanda, and has also leased land from others. He has got 2,000 maunds of rice.
Golam Hossain informs us that during the last Boro cultivation, land in Rajbanda village has yielded nearly 4,000 maunds of rice. Ironically, this is the same land that was previously used as grazing land during Boro season.
He points to the land and says, “Not just Boro. See there? Aush is ripening, and many other varieties of crops are also being harvested, including cucumber, gourd and watermelon.”
At one end, one can see farmers busy at work planting Amon; just next to that golden rice stalks of Aush are swaying gently in the breeze.
Villagers have expressed their gratitude for this support to Nabianj Upazila Agriculture Officer, Md. Dulal Uddin and Chevron Bangladesh.
Agriculture Officer, Dulal Uddin says “Boro rice could not be cultivated here due to lack of irrigation facilities. Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC) has a deep tube-well that can only provide support to certain areas. But Chevron’s construction of a canal from there to Rajbanda has completely transformed the outlook of the area.”
However, Boro cultivation has still not begun in full swing, since people are not yet completely accustomed to it. But whatever has been done so far is extremely encouraging, which is why others have been inspired to follow suit.
According to Dulal Uddin, “We’ve seen good results for other crops as well, like watermelon, cucumber, wheat and gourd.”
He says, “This area has yielded over six metric tonnes of rice per hectare of land. Though nearly 24,000 hectares of land in Nabiganj Upazila have the capacity for Boro rice cultivation, only 16,000 hectares have been used so far. Nearly 8,000 hectares of fallow land still remain.”
Dulal Uddin further says, “We have been able to secure water supply from the Kushiara River that flows just past here. It is possible to provide irrigation support to the whole of Rajbanda. BADC is taking steps in this regard.”
We have confirmed that Chevron’s support has provided irrigation facilities to the area lying west of the Kushiara-Bibiyana road. Nearly 3,000 acres of land to the east still remain uncultivated.
Chevron officials have informed that aside from construction of the irrigation canal, they have also provided a tractor to inspire and motivate the farmers. They have also arranged capacity-building training on farming techniques for Boro rice and other winter crops.
BDST: 1838 HRS, JULY 30, 2015
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