Lokman Ali, 28, was born in a shoal on Padma River near Godagari upazila of Rajshahi district.
When he turned 19, he, along with his family, had to move to the mainland, to a place called Amnura in the neighbouring Chapainawabganj district, some 50km away.
At the place he was born, the Padma River was like a sword that cut on both sides.
During monsoon, the river eroded severely and gobbled up vast stretches arable land and hundreds of homesteads. In the dry season, it dried up to such extents that everything even remotely fertile in the vicinity turned barren.
But there is no reason to think that the forced migration has meant something good for Lokman and his family.
For the Barindas, the original inhabitants of Amnura, people like Lokman are the Diaras, the outsiders. So, the Barindas do not easily accept the Diaras and the marginalisation has always made it tough for the outsiders to make a living.
The Amnura area in Chapainawabganj falls within the Barind Tract that covers several places in three districts in the north and is known for producing the popular but irrigation-intensive Boro paddy, one of the main crops in Bangladesh.
Before the Farakka Barrage in India came into affect a few decades ago, the Mahanada River used to be the principal source of water for irrigation.
Mahanada is actually a tributary of the great South Asian river system Ganges, parts of which is known as Padma in Bangladesh.
But Mahananda has dried up considerably over the last couple of decades because of the Farakka Barrage on the Ganges in the upstream in India. Moreover, the Barind Tract has never been known for having too much rainfall even during the monsoon.
So, the Boro growers had to increasingly rely on extracting underground water for irrigation.
But as natural reinforcements like Mahananda and rainfall dried up, overuse caused underground water levels to sink to alarming levels, increasing cost of irrigation manifold and directly affecting farmers’ profitability.
So, for people like Lokman, growing Boro at their new home was not a viable option because of the high cost of irrigation.
Initially, Lokman’s family bought a piece of land in Amnura and cultivated Boro with the irrigation provided by the Barind Multipurpose Development Authority (BMDA). But because of the excessive cost of irrigation, this year, they cultivated tomato in their land but failed to make any profit.
“We migrated with hopes for a better life but it has turned out to be a nightmare. Over the last three years, we have not made any profit. And now we are heavily in debt,” said Lokman’s father Anwar Ali.
The Diaras are the worst sufferers because cultivation is their only way of living. On the other hand, the Barindas are mostly land owners, who live in the Rajshahi city some 50km away and lease out their lands to others.
According to Lokman, some of the Diaras are now having to migrate for the second time because Boro has not brought them any good. In fact, years of loss has made many of them even poorer than what they used to be while living in the Padma shoals.
Many have already started migrating to the urban areas trying to make a living by working as day labourers.
“Last year, one of my brothers moved to Dhaka to work as a construction worker. Now, I am also seriously considering that option. Our family will starve if we keep toiling here,” Lokman said in exasperation.
Hydrology expert Ainun Nishat said if there was enough water in Mahananda, these people would not have needed to migrate.
“If the Padma carried in enough water like it used to do before the commissioning of the Farakka Barrage in India, such a situation would not have arisen,” he said.
BMDA officials said the government has taken an initiative to discourage farmers about growing Boro in several upazilas in the Barind districts – Rajshahi, Naogaon and Chapainawabganj.
However, Anwar Faruque, additional secretary of the Agriculture Ministry, told the Dhaka Tribune: “The government cannot dictate what a farmer grows. But, we have nothing to do but discourage Boro.”
Boro plays a key role in the country’s food security by accounting for nearly 60% of the total rice production. People from the lower income groups are heavily dependent on this.
Soon after the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) invented it, Boro got huge popularity among farmers because of high yield and fast growth. According to BRRI, every kilogram of Boro paddy requires around 4,000 liters of water.
The government has also tried to introduce a new technology called the Alternative Wet and Dry Method, also invented by BRRI. Under this, every kilogram requires 700 liters of water.