By Protima Rani from Satkhira
The people in the coast generally depend on agriculture for their livelihood. The farmers of the area produce rice, vegetable and other crops to earn their livelihood. But the unplanned shrimp cultivation that seeps the saline water into the cultivable land and frequent climate induced disasters have somehow disrupted their way of earning livelihood. However, in spite of these adversities there are still few people who practice sustainable agriculture and produce crops in an environment friendly way. Neela Rani (45) and Girish (48) of Abad Chandipur village are among them. They have developed their house as an integrated agricultural farm with their own initiative. They have achieved success in agriculture through the cultivation of diverse crops throughout the year.
After their marriage seeing the hardship in maintaining family due to scarcity of resources they planned together to produce seasonal crops throughout the year to solve their problem and ensure foods for family members. Thus they made proper use and management of their land. They cultivate various types of vegetables and crops such as radish, cabbage, cabbage, sweet potato, potato, onion, garlic, coriander and mustard, rice in their lands. All kinds of vegetables and crops are produced through intensive cultivation and care in an environment friendly manner without using external inputs such as chemical fertilizers and pesticides. They cultivate different seasonal crops throughout the year.
Since Neela Rani and her husband do not have their own fresh water ponds next to the vegetable fields that is why they use tube-well water. She also conserves all types of crop seeds so that they she could cultivate in the next year or can help others who face seed crisis. Neela Rani does not only cultivate and plant vegetable and other crops but also with the help of her husband she plants fruit trees as well such as mango, banana, coconut, guava, sabeda, jamrul, lemon, date, kul etc. Apart from cultivating diverse crops and planting fruit trees Neela Rani also rears livestock. Neela Rani and her husband have made the proper use of their lands which benefits them. This helps the couple to bring financial solvency in their family.
Neela Rani sells the surplus crops and vegetable after meeting their family needs which helps her to earn cash. She uses the cash to meet the various expenses of her family and saves the rest for the future. She said, “We, husband and wife, grow vegetables together at home. Cultivation of these crops does not cost much. It just needs courage and will. If you produce diverse crops you do not need to buy a lot of vegetables from the market. We are now happy and financially a bit solvent by cultivation of diverse crops maximizing the use of our lands.”
However, the role of Neela-Girish couple in sustainable agricultural practices seems to be very important in preserving our agricultural heritage. Therefore, in order to sustain sustainable agriculture, farmers should be recognized for their contribution in food production and their knowledge, skills and experience should be considered in the food production system.
Translated by Silvanus Lamin
