Coastal farming is coming under growing threat from climate change. Agricultural scientists say the answer is to grow more than one crop on the same land and to put land to multiple uses, and the Regional Horticulture Research Station in Patuakhali is working towards that goal.

To show farmers in the southern region the idea at first hand, the station has grown pineapple as a companion crop in its mango orchard. With a good yield, local people who have seen the method are being encouraged to take up pineapple farming, and the scientists say the station will give technical support.

In Patuakhali and the rest of the south, pineapple is usually planted around homesteads, but it is not grown commercially. Pineapples are brought from other districts to meet local demand, so prices in local markets stay high.

Because pineapple yields well in shade, the scientists are now recommending it for mango orchards. Md Rezaul Karim, scientific officer at the Regional Horticulture Research Station, said: "This time we have grown the Giant Kew variety and the Ghorashal variety from Narsingdi."

"If pineapple suckers are planted towards the end of the monsoon, especially in June and July, and given a little care, a good yield is possible," he said. "The first harvest comes 18 months after planting and then every year after that. This time the station got a yield of 40 tonnes per hectare."

Dr Md Nazirul Islam, director general of the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), said: "Our target is to ensure food and nutrition for all by 2030. To reach that goal we must overcome the shortage of land, and for that we have to increase intercropping. That is why pineapple has been grown in the mango orchard."

He added: "Crops must be grown with the socio-economic condition of farmers in mind, and we must make sure farmers can sell at a good price. Climate change is having an adverse effect on farm management. Agricultural scientists are also working on how to develop salinity- and drought-tolerant varieties of mango and pineapple for this region."

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.