The Dhurung canal is the main branch canal of the Halda river, the country’s only natural fish breeding ground. A shoal, or char, that has risen in the middle of this canal has now become fertile land for growing vegetables. The canal’s water flows around three sides of the char in the shape of the English letter U, and the wide land in the middle is now a spread of green. In some places cucumber vines cover the ground, in others yardlong beans and ridge gourd hang from trellises. On some plots bottle gourd, beans, snake gourd and aubergine plants sway. Even pointed gourd is grown here. Farmers are busy, hoping for good prices in the market by growing early vegetables.
Known locally as Mujri Char, the shoal lies between ward 1 of Kanchannagar union and Berajali in ward 9 of Paindong union in Fatikchhari upazila of Chattogram. Some 240 to 250 farmers work the land on this char of about 160 hectares all year round. But it is when the water in the Dhurung canal falls in the dry season that vegetable growing gets under way across the char. As yields are good in the fertile silt, the area under vegetables on the char is growing every year. Farmers work day and night in the hope of good prices for early vegetables. The char, formed around the canal’s water, is like a green chapter of new possibility in the lives of seasonal farmers.
Farmers on the char said silt is deposited on the land because canal water flows on three sides. This increases the fertility of the soil, so good yields are possible at comparatively low cost. They use this advantage to grow early vegetables. If they can harvest when the supply of these vegetables in the market is low, there is a chance of good prices.
Md Afzal Hossain, a farmer on Mujri Char, has grown various vegetables on two and a half kani of land this time. His land has yardlong beans, cucumber, ridge gourd, snake gourd, aubergine, bottle gourd, beans and bitter gourd.
Afzal Hossain said: “Hoping for a profit, we grow early cucumber, bottle gourd, pumpkin, yardlong beans and other vegetables on the char land. But often we do not even recover our production costs because we do not get a fair price for the crops we produce. We also do not regularly get the necessary advice, improved seed, fertiliser and other agricultural support from the agriculture office. So we demand more government agricultural support for the char’s farmers, the necessary inputs and advice, and a fair price for the vegetables produced. Then farmers will be able to cultivate with more enthusiasm and will get a proper price for their hard-won crops.”
Farmer Ali Ahmad said: “About 250 farmers grow various vegetables on this char of ours. But if a storm, rain or a natural disaster suddenly begins when we have come to work on the char, there is nowhere for farmers to take shelter. If there were a raised hut or a shed, we could take shelter there during a disaster. So, considering the safety of farmers, we request the authorities concerned to arrange for a raised hut or shed to be built on the char.”
It is not only Afzal or Ali Ahmad: most farmers on Mujri Char have turned to growing early vegetables. Their aim is to get crops to market at the start of the season and get comparatively good prices. But a good yield does not guarantee a profit for the farmer. Their profit or loss depends on production costs, transport costs and market prices.
Md Mohin Uddin and other farmers complain that they do not always get a fair price for the vegetables they produce. Often they have to depend on middlemen to sell vegetables from the field. As a result, even when vegetable prices in the market are high, the expected money does not reach the farmer.
Sharecropper Md Ershad said: “The prices of all kinds of pesticides and agricultural inputs are very high, but we are not getting a fair price for vegetables in comparison. If we do not get a good price for vegetables this year, we will not even be able to recover what we have spent on production. If farmers do not get a fair price even after working so hard to grow crops, it will become very difficult for us to survive.”
Another big problem for the farmers of Mujri Char is water. Although they farm beside the canal, there is no arrangement to supply water to the vegetable fields when it is needed. As a result many farmers have to arrange watering on their own initiative. There is also no shed on the char for farmers to sit or rest, and they have to work in the fields in fierce sun and rain. Farmers complain that they are not getting the support they expect from the agriculture department either. They believe both production and income could be increased if they got regular advice and help with controlling pests and diseases, modern cultivation methods and marketing.
Upazila agriculture officer Abu Salek said: “Mujri Char has great potential. The soil here is quite fertile and suitable for growing vegetables. Farmers are getting good yields by growing early vegetables. We are giving importance to providing farmers with the necessary advice on irrigation, controlling pests and diseases, improved seed varieties and modern cultivation. Alongside increasing production, farmers are also being made aware of how to get a fair price. The agriculture department’s support will continue in order to take farming on Mujri Char further forward.”
Mujri Char, risen in the middle of the Dhurung canal, is therefore more than a char. On this green land, tied to the livelihoods of several hundred farmers, they are now growing early vegetables and dreaming new dreams: that the crop will be good, that the market will give a good price and that the profit they hope for will come home.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report