2017 Volume 61 Issue 2 Pages 77-93
Bangladesh has about one million hectares of char lands, i.e. lands develop along the riverbank and/ or on riverbed due to accretion of sediments. The chars are situated in the remote areas, and disadvantaged people are living therein. This study was conducted to gather information on soil characteristics, flooding pattern, existing crops and cropping and root problems for crop production in chars throughout Bangladesh. The information on different rivers’ chars of 10 Upazillas was collected and refined through Focal Group Discussion (FGD), Key Informant Interview (KII), and workshops. The land type and soil characteristics of the chars were depended on their age and distance from the river origin. Usually the north and middle region chars were sand or silt dominated, while the coastal regions’ were clay dominated. The crops and cropping varied largely due to the flooding pattern and land types. Flooding was very common in the northern and mid regions, though water logging and salinity prevailed in the coastal chars. In the Rabi season (November – March), a large number of crops were grown, especially in the northern and middle regions’ chars, though their productivity was rather low due to limited use of modern varieties, high irrigation and inputs cost, and non-ensured fare price of produces. Eight root problems of the chars were identified such as slow diffusion of technologies, unavailable inputs timely and absence of organized marketing system. The crop productivity is envisaged to enhance greatly by minimizing those problems.
