GalleryBangladesh's traditional native fish, in pictures
Rui, catla and mrigal; shing, magur and pabda; shol, taki, hilsa and the featherback: eighteen of the fish that once filled every beel and canal in Bangladesh, photographed alive.
Journalists
Tania Chowdhary
49 stories
Gallery
AgrotechAgricultural mechanisation: the key to success in modern farming
Machines at every stage — tractors, combines, transplanters, drip lines and drones — are raising yields and cutting costs on Bangladesh's farms. What is in use, where the country stands, and what still holds it back.
Rooftop farmingHow to grow roses in pots
A year-old grafted plant set upright, pruning in Ashwin, dung, TSP and potash ten days before the cut, water every ten days in drought, organic pest control and suckers cut below the graft: the rules for roses in pots.
FruitsThe mango's main pests, and how to manage them
Fruit borer, red spider mite, hopper, stem borer, leaf webber and mealy bug: how to recognise the mango's six main enemies, the damage each does, and the sanitation, traps and sprays that control them.
OthersThe farm calendar: what to do in March
Water and brown planthopper in the boro, seedbeds for summer rice, the wheat harvest, sowing mung and black gram, sunflower and soybean, summer vegetables, mango and litchi blossom, the pond and the herd: March's list.
FruitsMango at home: easy, effective care for a sweet crop
The potting soil, the half-drum, the varieties, planting in Jyaishtha–Ashar, staking and watering, yearly feeding, flower and fruit drop, pests, and why the first year's blossom is removed: the full routine for a mango tree at home.
Homestead farmingGrafted mangoes on the roof: how to grow them and why
Why grafted saplings — quick to fruit, heavy-bearing, happy in pots; the site, an 18–24-inch drum, the soil mix, Amrapali, Himsagar and Langra, water, feed, pruning and fruit in two to three years — and pesticide-free mangoes of your own.
OthersThe farm calendar: what to do in February
Water and fertiliser for boro, wheat diseases, harvesting pulses and mustard, sowing sunflower and soybean, lifting winter vegetables and sowing summer ones, protecting mango and litchi blossom, the pond and the herd: February's list.
AgrotechFarming without land or farmers: Japan's technology revolution
Vertical farms, robots, AI and drones, hydroponics and automated greenhouses: how Japan is growing food with less land and fewer farmers, what it tells the world, and what Bangladesh could take from it.
CropsWhy boro rice matters
The largest share of the country's rice, continuity through the year, insurance against drought, 5–8 tonnes a hectare, farm incomes and rural jobs, climate-tolerant varieties and an export prospect: why the boro crop matters.
AgrotechTunnel technology: a modern way to grow vegetables
A polythene-covered arch that puts the weather under the farmer's control: site, soil, frame, sowing and care; tomato, cucumber, capsicum, lettuce and broccoli; off-season crops, 30–50 per cent more yield, fewer pests and less water.
CropsBoro rice: the characteristics of Bangladesh's biggest crop
Transplanted November to February and cut in April–May, wholly dependent on irrigation, 5–8 tonnes a hectare, a 140–150-day life, BRRI dhan28, 29 and 67: what makes the boro season the country's largest.
FruitsEarly care of the mango orchard: practical tips for a bigger crop
Before the blossom: clearing and pruning, soil pH, 15 kg of manure and a kilo of lime a tree, irrigation every 10–15 days in the dry season, Bordeaux mixture, mulching and potash at flowering — the early care that decides the mango crop.