Almost every year between the Bengali months of Asharh and Ashwin, floods hit the north, centre, south and east of Bangladesh. They are caused by heavy rain over short periods, seasonal floods, flash floods, coastal floods and water flowing down from upstream countries India, Bhutan and China. Waterlogging is especially noticeable in Sunamganj, Sylhet, Netrokona, Nilphamari, Kurigram, Jamalpur, Faridpur, Gopalganj, Bagerhat, Barguna, Pirojpur, Madaripur and neighbouring districts.

The type and extent of damage depend on how widespread the flooding and waterlogging are. About 15 lakh hectares of land are currently affected by flash floods and waterlogging. These waterlogged areas stay under water for a set part of the year, and bringing that period under floating crop cultivation could raise the country's farm output.

The article says a large region of Bangladesh lies about 2 metres below sea level and is very sensitive to the tides. Floods and waterlogging are routine events in Bangladesh, and climate change has made the problem worse. As a result crop production is falling, food security is under threat and living standards are declining. To survive, affected communities are following the baira method of crop cultivation.

Various NGOs, such as the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS) and its partner local organisations, are spreading floating vegetable bed cultivation in flood-hit and waterlogged coastal and saline areas. This will play an important role in providing employment, income, food and nutrition for local people and the farming families involved, and will increase the capacity of coastal flood-hit communities to adapt to global climate change.

Farmers in some villages have long grown vegetables on floating beds on a small scale. It is essentially vegetable growing on a soil-less raft on the water, made from aquatic plants such as water hyacinth and helencha mixed with cow dung and compost. This is called a floating garden, known locally as baira. Plants grown this way take the nutrients they need from the compost on the raft and from the water. In floods and waterlogging, field crops rot in the water, but on floating beds crops can grow fully.

This traditional method needs to be further developed and made sustainable with the help of science, technology and research. With a touch of technology, stronger and longer-lasting beds could be made, allowing more diverse vegetables and crop rotation.

• water hyacinth (kochuripana)
• deep-water rice straw
• various aquatic plants, such as kochuripana, khudipana, kutipana (Azolla pinnata) and shayala
• some pieces of bamboo

Pile floating water hyacinth on the water and set a bamboo raft on it. On top, pile water hyacinth thickly, according to how long the waterlogging will last, so that the bed stays afloat for the whole period. Add a layer of cow dung and compost, and after 10–15 days sow vegetable seeds or plant seedlings. Because a baira can move on the water, it should be placed where it is convenient to manage and fixed with bamboo poles. Growing vegetables this way, farmers can harvest two to three crops a year from one baira.

Spices listed for the beds are chilli, onion, garlic, ginger and mustard.

• Because low-lying areas stay flooded and waterlogged for long periods, local people cannot grow crops or vegetables in the fields, so they suffer financial hardship and malnutrition. Growing vegetables and crops on baira can mainly solve this problem.
• After the water recedes, the water hyacinth and compost can be used as organic fertiliser on crop land.
• It creates employment for rural people during floods.
• The writer believes that growing crops or vegetables on baira during floods or in waterlogged places can raise families' daily nutrition and income while contributing to the national economy.

Source: Staff Correspondent. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.