A vast stretch of land in the country's northwest region, that produces a major portion of crop of the country, may end up barren unless farmers switch to low-irrigation varieties or there is enough water in the Padma and its tributary Mahananda.
For years, farmers in the Barind tract – covering parts of the Chapainawabganj, Rajshahi and Naogaon districts – have had to rely on underground water for growing irrigation-intensive Boro paddy.
This dependency would not have developed if there was enough water in the Padma and Mahananda Rivers. But because of the Farakka barrage upstream in India, the rivers have hardly ever gotten the water they were supposed to as per a bilateral treaty between the neighbours.
That has hurt the Barind tract on two counts--the level of underground water has sunk to an alarming level and, as a result, the cost of irrigation has increased manifold.
Rainfall could have been another natural supply chain for the underground water, but this predominantly dry part of the country has never been known for having much of a rainy season.
“If the current situation prevails, groundwater could be available for another decade or so and then the entire region will turn barren,” said Md Alam Abdul Mannan, senior sub-assistant engineer of BMDA at Nachole in Chapainawabganj.
The ‘if’ in Farakka
Farmers of Matikata Union in Godagari upazila of Rajshahi said before the commissioning of Farakka in 1972, the flow in Padma used to be around 100 feet deep during peak periods and approximately 60 feet during lean periods.
But in recent years, the flow has come down to as little as 15 feet deep during peak periods and no water during the dry season, they said.
Hedayet Ali, 60, a fisherman of Godagari, blamed the Farakka Barrage for the current sorry state of the river. “We never had any problem before the Farakka Barrage was installed.”
Golam Rabbani, research fellow of Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS), has been working on trans-boundary rivers in South Asia for a long time.
“If the bilateral agreement signed in 1996 between Bangladesh and India was maintained properly, then the situation of groundwater in the Barind Tract would not have been this bad,” he said.
One of the key provisions of the 1996 water-sharing treaty says: “If there is water,” India and Bangladesh will alternatively receive 35,000 cubic litres per second (cusec) over 10-day periods from March 11 to May 10 every year."
However, data from the Joint River Commission (JRC) shows that Bangladesh, the lower riparian country, have often been deprived off the projected volume of water during lean periods.
For example, Bangladesh received the guaranteed volume in 2014, but the flow in 2008, 2009 and 2011 has been less.
Seeking anonymity, a JRC member said Bangladesh has been on the wrong side of the “if.”
Interestingly, some local officials of the Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) said farmers and fishermen have exaggerated the shortage.
In field studies conducted in Rajshahi and Pabna, the Bangladesh Center for Advanced Studies (BCAS) has found that “there is a divergence between the perspectives of local stakeholders and government officials regarding the volume of water in the river.”
Bangladesh and India have had many debates on how the Farakka Barrage on the Ganges – part of which is known as Padma in Bangladesh – cuts off Bangladesh’s water supply.
Groundwater depths
Official data from the Barind Multipurpose Development Authority (BMDA) shows that the underground water level, which was at a depth of 64-feet in December 2008, has dropped to 97 feet in December 2013.
However, according to local Boro growers, the level of underground water, which used to be at a 40-feet depth 15 years ago, has now dropped to 160 feet.
Although one of the major crops in the country, especially for ensuring food for people belonging to the low income groups, Boro is a difficult variety of paddy because it has to be grown in the dry season and it requires a lot of water.
According to a survey of the Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC), usage of groundwater has increased drastically over the last few decades.
In 1982-83, groundwater’s contribution to irrigation was 41%. In 2001-02, that climbed to as much as 75%.
Hydrology expert Ainun Nishat said the groundwater level would not have gone down to such an alarming level if the adjacent Padma River and its tributary Mahananda had enough water during the lean season.
Rainfall
In addition to the inadequate flow of water in Padma and Mahanda, the rainfall pattern in the Barind tract has also been causing the groundwater layer to fall rapidly.
According to the Bangladesh Meteorological Department, the average rainfall in the region during the dry season, that is January-March, is 3-5mm. During monsoon, that is June-August, the amount varies between 300mm and 350mm, which is very small compared to the country average.
Cost of Irrigation
“A few years ago, I used to spend Tk100 for an hour of irrigation and the water that I got was enough for a 1-bigha land. But now, even three hours of irrigation cannot fetch the water that I need. Clearly, irrigation costs have risen by around three times,” said Asharfaul Islam, a farmer from Chuniapara village in Tanore upazila of Rajshahi.
“The cost of producing Boro on my 3-acre land has at least doubled because of the increased cost of irrigation,” he added.
Although the government has been trying to popularise less irrigation-intensive crops such as wheat and maize, the farmers, who have been growing Boro paddy for ages, are reluctant about switching.
Rajendro Sarker, a farmer from the Mundulmala village in Rajshahi, said: “We cannot stop growing Boro because we know everything about this. Even if it requires huge volume of groundwater for irrigation, we cannot think about any alternative.”