- Salinity intrusion makes thousands of hectares of land barren in coastal Bangladesh
- Coastal districts 25% of the country’s rice production.”
- BRRI-47 first salt-tolerant rice variety
- Salt-tolerant rice changing fortunes and circumstances across country
- 5,216 hectares in Satkhira, most climate-affected district, cultivated with BRRI-47
- 2.86 million hectares of coastal and off-shore arable lands available
In the 1970s, Nandi Dulal, a 70-year-old paramedic-turned-farmer from Mukandapur village in Satkhira’s Kaliganj upazila, bred 25 varieties of rice with his fellow farmers.
By then, they discovered that their field was becoming saltier with time and that the rice field was becoming sterile.
“As the arable land became saltier, it hindered production and caused a huge loss for us, since we used to breed rice taking loans. For at least seven to eight months a year, the lands were barren. Shrimp farming has become an alternative for some people. Farmers have also begun growing fish by introducing saltwater to the land,” said Dulal.