Tania Chowdhary is an agriculture researcher and writer covering AgriTech, agricultural innovation, climate-smart farming and rural development. She turns research, farm data and field knowledge into clear, practical stories for farmers and readers. · 60 stories
OthersFarming's share of GDP keeps shrinking, yet close to half of Bangladesh's working people still earn their living in fields, farms and fisheries. The sector feeds the country, supplies jute, tea and leather exports and raw materials for industry, and has driven down rural poverty. Its challenges, and what a sustainable future needs.
AgrotechA drum seeder drops sprouted seed in straight rows on a puddled field, skipping the nursery and transplanting altogether. Sowing takes about half the time and some 30 per cent less labour, with less seed wasted. How the machine works, how to prepare seed and land, and where farmers need to take care.
OthersAvailability, access, utilisation and stability: Bangladesh measured against the four pillars of food security. A country self-sufficient in rice yet short of nutrition, facing climate change, shrinking farmland and weak distribution, and the steps that would put enough nutritious food on every plate.
CropsBamboo sticks four to five feet tall, ten to fifteen metres apart, with a crossbar on top, and drongos, mynas and egrets do the rest, eating the stem borers and caterpillars in the crop. How perching cuts pesticide use in rice, vegetables, pulses, oilseeds and orchards at almost no cost.
EthiopiaA temperature of 18 to 24 °C, shade and an altitude of 600 to 1,200 metres. The whole coffee-growing process from seed to nursery to harvest, the world's leading producers from Brazil to Vietnam, and why the hills of Bangladesh could become coffee country.
AgrotechHand, knapsack or power sprayer, the right nozzle, morning or evening, the right dose, even coverage, personal safety and cleaning after use. How choosing and handling spraying equipment well keeps fruit trees healthy and lifts both the quality and the size of the harvest.
OthersJanuary is the busiest month of the rabi season. Amid fog and cold waves, farmers tend boro seedbeds and transplant, irrigate wheat, fight late blight in potatoes, harvest mustard and pulses, and look after winter vegetables, ponds and livestock. The month’s work, crop by crop, following the government’s monthly extension advice.
Daily lifeOmega-3 in hilsa, vitamin D in rui, vitamin A in catla, calcium in puti, iron in magur, strength in shing. Each of eleven familiar fish on the Bangladeshi plate brings the body something of its own. What each offers, and how to choose among them for everyday meals.
FlowersAfter the rose, the chrysanthemum is the most popular flower in Bangladeshi gardens. How to recognise powdery mildew, leaf spot, grey mould and aphids, and what to do at each stage, from spacing, mulching and careful watering to baking-soda and soap sprays and, when needed, fungicides.
OrganicFish can be raised in a pond without chemical fertiliser, pesticide or synthetic feed. A sunny, flood-free pond, natural food grown with manure and compost, carp stocked in layers and home remedies of neem, garlic and turmeric make it work, and buyers pay more for the result.
OrganicDung, poultry litter, straw, vegetable peel and fallen leaves need not be burned or dumped: they can become compost and vermicompost. How to choose the site, build the layers, keep moisture and heat right, turn the heap and apply it, and what it does for the soil and the farmer's costs.
Daily lifeThe national fish carries omega-3, vitamins D, A and E and selenium, good for the heart, brain, skin and bones. Here are the benefits, and the ingredients and methods of 33 hilsa dishes, from ilish bhaturi, paturi and doi ilish to korma, biryani and Bikrampur's pani khola ilish.
FisheriesAlways in demand, content in a small pond and modest in its feed needs. With a flood-free pond and strong banks, 500 to 1,000 fry per decimal, feed of 32 per cent protein and steady care, each shing reaches 60 to 70 grams in six to seven months. The full method, from choosing the pond to the harvest.
