ABSTRACT

The present study was conducted in some selected areas of the Sunamganj district of Bangladesh. The main aim of this study was to investigate the present irrigation practices for Boro rice farmers and compare profitability under different methods of irrigation. The primary field data were collected through interviewing from 100 Boro rice farmers (landless, small, medium, and large farmers). The study revealed that most of the farmers (38.1%) used surface water (beel) for irrigation purposes. As water-lifting devices, they mainly used the Low Lift Pump (LLP), the Shallow Tube Well (STW), and traditional equipment for irrigation by the respondents of 75%, 16.36%, and 8.65%, respectively. Due to the high cost of irrigation pumps, 73.68% of respondents rented irrigation from the pump owners. Total input cost for STW was Tk. 35,751; for LLP, it was Tk. 31,251; and for traditional equipment, it was Tk. 34,076. The gross return (Tk. 73,137) was the highest  for STW users, but the highest BCR (benefit-cost ratio) was in the LLP irrigation method, which was 2.28 due to a lower cost than STW. The lowest BCR was in the traditional irrigation system, which was 2.01. The BCR of the STW irrigation system was 2.04. The average water productivity of STW was 0.452 kg/m³. For diesel engines, the average water productivity was 0.446 kg/m³, and for electric engines, the average water productivity was 0.458 kg/m³. The average water productivity of LLP was 0.413 kg/m³, which is lower than STW. The average water productivity of the traditional method in the study area was 0.397 kg/m³, which is lower than both the STW and LLP methods.

Key words: Water productivity, boro rice, irrigation

Introduction

 There are three distinct growing seasons viz. Aus, Aman, and Boroallow for year-round rice production in Bangladesh. In general, from December to April, when boro rice is cultivated, the dry condition prevails through the country. Farmers generally use surface water sources including rivers, canals, and ponds, as well as groundwater sources like shallow and deep tube wells as main sources for irrigation. The pressure on freshwater resources around the world is rising to previously unheard-of levels due to rising populations, food shortages, expanding economies, and inadequate water management. The greatest notable change in Bangladeshi agriculture over the past 25 years has likely been groundwater irrigation. The groundwater development project in Dinajpur district under the northwest region was initiated in 1962 with the installation of 381 deep tube wells (DTW). It was reported that there were 1,378 DTWs, about 40,331 shallow tube wells (STW), and 66,400 hand tube wells (HTW) under operation by different user groups but that they failed to bring all cultivable lands under irrigation. In 2004, 6,047 DTWs, 70,000 STWs, and other modes of irrigation were used in the area, which covered almost 57% of the total irrigable area (BMDA 2011). The remaining 43% of the irrigable area was planned to be covered under the DTWs installation project named ‘Groundwater model study for DTW installation project in Barind area’. In recent years, the Barind Multipurpose Development Authority (BMDA) has installed more than 10,000 DTWs in the Barind area of the northwest region. In addition, quite a large number of STWs have been installed in this region by private initiatives (Ahmad et al., 2014). In Bangladesh, rice production increased from 25.09 million metric tons in 2000-01 to 37.8 million metric tons in 2020-21 (BBS, 2021). The need for irrigation in Bangladeshi agriculture, however, is dramatically rising from season to season as a result of the country’s shifting climate. Due to the current climatic change, irrigation is now required both in the kharif season and

ABSTRACT

The hilly ecosystem consists of three districts in Bangladesh, namely Rangamati, Khagrachari, and Bandarban. For jhum cultivation, farmers preferred some traditional (Gelong and Binnidhan) as well as modern varieties (BRRI dhan48 and BRRI dhan55) due to ensuring higher yield and good taste. In the valley land of a hilly ecosystem, during T. Aus season, BRRI dhan48 and local varieties Binnidhan and Gelong were the most preferred varieties due to their good taste to eat and higher yield than other local rice varieties. Moreover, in the T. Aman season, the farmers most preferred varieties were BRRI dhan49, Paijam, and BR11 in the valley land due to their drought-tolerant capacity, higher yield, shorter growth duration, good taste, and medium slender grain size. In the Boro season, farmers preferred the varieties BRRI dhan28, BRRI dhan58, and hybrid varieties Hira, ACI, and SL-8H due to their higher yield, medium good taste to hilly people and high market demand in the local area. On the other hand hybrid rice production is popular on this area due to seed availability in the market, higher yield than other variety and production cost is not significantly different from other varieties. Overall, the hybrid and modern  rice area is increasing day by day due to its higher yield potential, less disease and pest infestation, and higher market demand for local people in the hilly areas of Bangladesh. So product profile will play a significant role to fill the future demand in hilly ecosystems of Bangladesh.

Key words: Hilly ecosystem, preferences, variety, product profile.

Introduction

 The Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) comprising 70% of the hilly areas of Bangladesh and covers 13,184 km² (10% of total country area), of which 90% are sloping lands (Hossain et al., 2017a). More than 35 crop species are cultivated annually in hilly areas (Ahammad and Stacey, 2016). The area is mild to very steep ranging from 15% to over 70% slope, often breaking or ending in cliffs (SRDI, 2018). Rice is the major crop component of jhum field and average yield 1.15 t ha-1, though rice grown as main crop banana provides the maximum yield of 108 t ha-1 (Jamaluddin et al., 2010). Moreover, jhum cultivation is one of the traditional practices in the hilly areas of Bangladesh. Jhum cultivation is very popular to tribal hill communities that govern hill agriculture. In this system land is cleared by controlled fire and then a natural fallow phase is employed long enough to be dominated by woody vegetation (Bhagawatiet al., 2015). Due to developing of modern rice varieties and new technologies, the hilly people shifting their agriculture for earning more profit. Crop productivity in jhum has declined due to soil erosion and associated reduction in essential soil nutrients (Karim and Mansor, 2011). Recently, many Asian countries are replacing the system with permanent agriculture due to increase population which is created pressure on land (BRRI, 2020). Even though Jhum has considerably declined in recent years but still a dominant land-use system in the hilly terrain and has been practiced by local indigenous groups of CHT for centuries (Khisa and Mohiuddin, 2015). It has been estimated that about 26,000 households practice shifting cultivation (jhum) every year, and nearly 143,000 people depend on jhum for livelihood (Shoaib, 2000). Despite declining productivity, farmers follow jhuming because they believe it is the basis of hill people’s cultural identity (Ahmed, 2002). Generally, the average jhum cycle ranges from 12 to 15 years, which allows sufficient vegetation during the interval (Hossain, 2011). But due to the scarcity of land, the cycle has shortened to 2-3 years, with serious consequences for soil quality (Swapan et al., 2008). To maximize the production of jhum, the quality seed for jhum crops has to be available. Bangladesh Rice Research Institute

ABSTRACT

A field trial was conducted at Khabuliar char, Sonatola, Bogura during Rabi season of 2021-2022 to evaluate the performance of modern proso millet variety under farmers’ field condition. BARI Cheena-1 gave the satisfactory yield (2.42 tha^-1) in charland area of Sonatola, Bogura over local variety (1.73 tha^-1). This variety ensured the low price, enough availability having less risk and water requirement, easily grown without modern technology. Attractive gross margin (Tk. 83100 ha^-1) was also obtained from the tested variety over local control.

Key words: Proso millet, performance, charland area.

Introduction

Millet crops are grown on marginal lands and under low-input agricultural conditions or situations in which major cereal crops often produce low yields (Amadou et al., 2013). Proso millet is rich in protein, minerals, vitamins and micronutrients such as iron, zinc, copper and manganese and its nutritive parameters are comparable or better than common cereals (Kalinova and Moudry, 2006).The area under Cheena and Kaon production in Bangladesh is about 2920 acres with a production of 1229 m tons (BBS, 2018). The land of Bogura district termed as the most Cheena and Kaon production area of Bangladesh is covering 385 acres area with production of 120 MT (BBS, 2018). “Charland’’ is the Bengali term, its English meaning is “Riverine island” for mid-channel island that emerges periodically from riverbed as a consequence of accretion (Elahi, 1991). In Bangladesh the char lands can be divided into five sub areas (The Jamuna, The Ganges, The Padma, The upper Meghna and the lower Meghna River)  where Tista and old Brahmaputra also constitute some char land areas (Islam et al., 2012). These char land areas are the best habited for the millet and groundnut production. BARI has already developed some improved Cheena varieties like BARI Cheena-1 and BARI Cheena-2, but the farmers of charland area are mostly sown only local cultivar (Rahman et al, 2020). Now a day’s farmers’ of Bangladesh is very much fascinated to grow high yielding variety along with resistance early maturity characters. The present study was therefore undertaken to evaluate the performance of BARI released improved variety under farmer’s field condition and popularize the variety among the farmers to promote their adoption in char land areas of Bogura district.

ABSTRACT

Colocasia ssp of family: Araceae an annual herbaceous plant with a long history of usage in traditional medicine in several countries across the world, especially in the tropical and subtropical regions including Bangladesh. A field experiment was conducted in Bangladesh Institute of Research and Training on Applied Nutrition (BIRTAN) regional station to evaluated iron rich Colocasia species in Rajshahi region. A wide range of chemical compounds and minerals including Iron have been isolated from Colocasia species. There were twelve verity was collected from Rajshahi region (eight local varieties and four BARI releases varieties). Iron was extracted from leaf, leaf stem, corm and lati.  The study noted that iron (Fe⁺⁺) was rich (average) in the leaf part and less in corm. Consideration of all parts (average value) the higher iron found in moulovi kachu (1.50 mg/100g) and nearest result were observed in BARI pani kachu-6 and Deshi lati kala kachu (1.34 mg/100g), respectively.

Key words: Colocasia esculenta, chemical constituents, ethno medical uses, pharmacological profile

Introduction

Colocasia, a perennial tropical plant native to Southeast Asia is primarily grown as a vegetable for its edible starchy corn but the versatility of the plant is reflected by the fact that not only the corn but its stem and leaves are also used frequently as seasonal vegetable. Leaves of Colocasia are considered as a rich source of β-carotene, ascorbic acid, folic acid, riboflavin, B vitamins, vitamin A and minerals such as iron, zinc, calcium, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium. Colocasia plants or plant based preparations are also used for the treatment of various ailments in their traditional system of medicine. The family Araceae de Juss. is represented by 3,645 species globally under 144 genera (Boyce and Croat, 2011). In Bangladesh, the family consists of 27 genera and 109 species of which 81 species are wild and 29 are cultivated (Ara, 2016). This would go a long way to improve the role of Colocasia in providing high nutrition quality enriched crops in Bangladesh. For any effective work to be done on Colocasia, it is important to know its characteristics (both qualitative and quantitative) in local germplasm found in Bangladesh. The characteristics of these germplasm will serve as the basis for selection of germplasm that are high yielding and nutritious in Bangladesh. This will help suitable Colocasia as a potential Source of high Iron enriched leafy vegetables.