Where We Work

Rajshahi

Located in western Bangladesh, Rajshahi is a well-known city that serves as the administrative hub for both Rajshahi district and division. It is located close to the boundary of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the northern banks of the Padma River.

Rajshahi’s geographic coordinates are roughly 24.40°N latitude and 88.50°E longitude. The city is well known for producing silk and is frequently called the “Silk City.” Furthermore, because of the large number of educational institutions, it is frequently referred to as the “City of Education.” But these are the results of recent development. Rather, on the basis of natural resources, the city was termed the ‘city of ponds.’ Locals used to say this, as the city has been built centering the ponds. There were 4,238 ponds, canals, and wetlands in the city in 1961; 2,271 in 1981; 729 in 2000; and today, there are just 214 water bodies in the city. Since the relevant authorities have little control over the operations of entrenched interest groups, indiscriminate earth-dumping and unplanned urbanization have resulted in the filling of 4,000 ponds during the past 50 years (The Dhaka Tribune, 2014).
The southern border of Rajshahi is traversed by the Padma River, a significant river in Bangladesh that presents both environmental and economic advantages to the area.

Rajshahi has long been an important hub for trade and culture in the area due to its advantageous location along the Padma River. It still has a significant impact on Bangladesh’s socioeconomic environment today.

Rajshahi is mainly an agriculturally based region. Due to the gradual decrease in groundwater layers, surface water significantly contributes to irrigation activities (Ahammad et al., 2020; Kafy et al., 2019a; Mim and Zamil, 2020). Groundwater depletion is directly linked to food production and health issues, which are subsequently related to human capital (Mostafa et al., 2017).

Water scarcity is not a new phenomenon for this region. People living here are used to dealing with this problem. Before the 1960s, there was availability of diversified surface water reservoirs. And these reservoirs were mainly used for household activities and homestead gardens. The system of cultivating field crops was mechanized in such a way that the people of the Barind Tract were aloof from the idea of irrigation. Rainwater served as the water source of this region to grow the field crops. Again, the people knew how crops were themselves eligible to grow with nature.

During the rainy season, Aman and Aush paddy, which need more water, are grown. Because Aush rice yields quickly, it was commonly used to cultivate large quantities of it. Compared to the Amon, this kind poses less of a risk while using water. However, compared to Aush, Aman takes longer and produces more. Furthermore, Boro rice was grown sporadically in the Barind region if the weather permitted; it was not a required crop.

Compared to now, the cultural trend was different because they were growing foods that they enjoyed eating rather than only selling them to make money to purchase their goods. Their culinary culture was distinct. Due to their availability, they used to rely on rice and lentils. Their eating patterns depended on these crops from sunrise to dusk. They used to raise an increasing number of buffaloes due to the fact that they are more powerful than cows and other cattle. Because surface water was available, they were able to control these buffalo. At least twice a day, buffaloes need to be bathed. Thus, this practice steadily declined as the number of water bodies reduced.

Water scarcity is addressed as a ‘problem.’

They gradually transformed their culture after the 1960s, when the use of deep or underground water replaced surface water. They chose to irrigate their farm using underground water, which is scarce. People were encouraged to pull groundwater for their everyday usage in the name of development and rights. Thus, the focus shifts from farming methods to people’s leisure. Those who cultivated “mash kalai,” or black gram, while waiting for the weather to get wet are now growing them separately in a field. The crop that did not require any attention suddenly needs the majority of it, which comes at a great cost. People used to trade paddy for this gram on an equal basis, but now the gram’s price has tripled.

This context basically informs us that we are losing the quality of management we were doing with limited resources when it comes to unplanned development. In order to get more yield and food, we cultured this high Barind Pleistocene terrace that resulted in exploitation of nature. So, it became difficult to get those natural cycles as we have input our techniques upon it. But we are not capable enough to maintain our own imposed ideas. In this regard the exploitation went to the peak. But since we are already less capable, we are now moving to cities in order to have greater facilities and accomplish more. In addition to pollution, there is unplanned urbanization. people now view the “shortage of water” as a “problem,” which is the primary cause of these migrations and movements.

BARCIK’s development intervention

Due to the city’s location on the Padma River’s bank, people are also experiencing river erosion. People move to the city for this reason as well. In light of these issues, BARCIK adopts a people-led approach to facilitate activities at the city and union levels, offering some assistance to the community attempting to lessen the effects of climate change through advancing agroecological practices, starting with capacity building and awareness campaigns.

Other common activities that BARCIK implements to organize, capacitate, and benefit the target groups are training, workshops, meetings, advocacy, policy research, campaigns, networking, the formation of different occupational organizations/associations, press conferences, fairs, etc. BARCIK presently works within Rajshahi City Corporation, two upazilas, namely Poba and Tanore, of Rajshahi district, and Nachole upazila of Chapainawabgonj.

BARCIK’s stakeholders in this region include small, marginal farmers; landless people; women; youth; civil society organizations; different occupational groups; etc. These three upazilas have been selected on the basis of vulnerability and the presence of a diversified community with the intention to preserve indigenous knowledge.