Abstract
As a part of the “Bangladesh Rural Development Experiment” project, various trials on farming technologies were carried out and monitored in an experimental village in the lower Meghna floodplain in order to find appropriate and sustainable technologies that can be developed and adopted by local people. They include (a) fish culture in a medium-size polder, (b) fish culture in a small polder, (c) fish culture in perennial swamps in and near the village settlement, and (d) cropping trials on broad ridges set at various heights in a small polder. Of these trials, fish culture in small polder and perennial swamps were adopted successfully and expanded subsequently to neighboring villages. Main factors of the success were: (a) bari-based, small group operation was efficient in making consensus among the participants, (b) the technologies applied were manageable although they were new to the villagers, and (c) cost outlay for building the polders and bunds was moderate.
