Lalmonirhat farmers are happy, as they have harvested four crops this year through a new cropping pattern.
The method has introduced a new cropping pattern to increase food production and attain sustainable food security amid adverse impacts of the climate change, local sources said.
With assistance from Rangpur Dinajpur Rural Service (RDRS) Bangladesh NGO, farmers of the district got bumper yields of all the four crops, encouraging other farmers to use the method.
A large number of farmers at Devirpat village, Aditmari upazila in Lalmonirhat said they had cultivated four crops – Aman paddy, Pariza paddy, mustard and mung bean – by applying the new method to a single piece of land this year.
Farmers of the village harvested BARI-14 mustard, a high-yield variety of mustard, on Monday.
Kanok Chandra Barmon, a farmer of the village, said he had cultivated Aman paddy, Pariza paddy, mustard and mung bean this year.
“I got bumper yield of four crops from the land this year while I got only two crops – Aman and IRRI-boro paddy – last year.”
“We started farming four crops at our village, taking help from the RDRS Bangladesh. The organisation provides us technical supports and inputs,” said farmer Kamla Ranjon Roy of the village.
According to the Department of Agriculture Extension, over 3,000 farmers at five upazilas started cultivating four crops on their land a year back.
Mamunur Rashid, agriculture and environment coordinator of RDRS Bangladesh, said the newer cropping pattern ensures increased crop which would help the country to attain food security.
“The new cropping pattern improves livelihoods of the poor and creates jobs during the lean period,” he said, adding that RDRS is encouraging farmers to farm four crops in a year, avoiding tobacco.
Deputy Director of the DAE Abdul Mazid said they were working to encourage farmers in cultivating four crops on their land and it would help growers to mitigate the adverse impact of climate change.
Farmers – Manik Chandra Barmon, Atiqur Rahman, Amzad Hossain, Mahasin Ali and Narayan Chandra Roy – said they feel encouraged to bring their land under the new cropping pattern.
A large number of male and female farmers of the area were advised to farm four crops and avoid tobacco on their land by the experts of the DAE and the RDRS, Bangladesh.
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University under the financial assistances of Krishi Gobeshona Foundation assisting the RDRS, Bangladesh for giving technical and input supports to the farmers to cultivate four crops annually.
