Adaptive Crop Agriculture Including Innovative Farming Practices in ...

agricultural technologies to achieve sustainability of their livelihood opportunities from
adverse climate change situations.
• To test and demonstrate new crops variety, which have the potentials to help farmers
to adapt climate change;
• To improve the livelihood of the people of haor basin by introducing short duration
boro variety and hence protect the only crop from flash flood;
• Utilize the fallow land and increasing cropping intensity in comparatively high land.
1.3 Scope of Work
There are many scopes and opportunities to work, which can change the livelihood of the
haor people in a positive way. Global warming has its impacts on the weather including the
project area and probably that is why, climate change has impacted adversely in the haor area
and intensifying severity of flash floods significantly in last few years. The pattern of rainfall,
flash flood, drought etc. has changed in a noticeable way. For example, in recent years,
flashflood hits Sunamganj District and other haor areas about fifteen days earlier than it used
to do thirty to forty years before.
This flashflood damages the boro rice (only crop in haor basin) just before the harvesting
time of the crop. It even does harm tremendously to the economy and livelihood of the
region. To change the situation of locality’s livelihood, the boro rice needs to be protected
from the flashflood. Present practice of farmer's is to grow BR 29 HYV rice. It is a long
duration rice variety highly susceptible to damage by flash floods. The research has targeted
to identify either a short duration but high yielding rice variety or any suitable alternative
crop which is found suitable in the context of economically viable and can address issues of
climatic changes.
Another area of this region needs great attention. In the haor areas, there is land (10-40% of
the haor area varies from haor to haor) which is comparatively higher and is usually fallow
(locally know as Kanda). These lands are prospective for crop diversification and with many
possible potentiality of crop intensification. Research suggests that an alternative Rabi Crop
can be grown here, for example – pulses, oil seeds, cereals and vegetables etc. Moreover,
there is also a great opportunity of increasing the yield of rice in haor region.
Lot of lands in haor areas remain inundated during winter season. And during wet season, the
whole haor area remains inundated for about six months. Therefore, agriculture on the
floating garden has been treated as a good and potential area of research.
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