The project is being implemented in 25 upazilas of the three districts at a cost of around Taka 560.53 crore since July 2019 last. COURTESY
Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation (BADC) has hoped to produce around 1.34 lakh tonnes additional crops from 53,400 hectares of Chalan beel land every year using surface water irrigation.
The corporation has been implementing a five-year project on Pabna-Natore-Sirajganj district irrigation development through surface water to yield the additional crops.
The project is being implemented in 25 upazilas of the three districts at a cost of around Taka 560.53 crore since July 2019 last.
Various infrastructures development works including canal and solar-power driven dug-well re-excavation, irrigation infrastructure and underground canal construction are on under the project, BADC in its project detail said.
"We have set a target of re-excavating a 480-kilometer canal, excavating 300 solar-power driven dug-wells and installing 600 low lift pumps, including construction of underground irrigation canals to attain our additional crop yield projection," said Mahmud Hasan Khan, director of the project.
Two valley irrigation systems will be established for vegetable, fruit and spice crops besides construction of 222 big, medium and small irrigation structures and 10-kilometer water sewerage infrastructures to facilitate watering on the land, he said.
Under the project, underground irrigation canals will be constructed and expanded for 700 old deep-tube-wells and 150 other solar-power driven low lift pumps.
Five fruit harvest and storage centres will be constructed for providing power connection to 615 irrigation machines.
Khan said the surface water-based modern facilities have already been ensured for 3,200 hectares of land yielding 8,000 tonnes of additional crops.
Many of the single-cropping lands have turned into double and triple cropping ones for removing water-logging through re-excavation of the canals in the beel area, he added.
More than 100 low-lift pumps were installed for using the conserved water in the re-excavated canals for irrigation purposes, paving the way of irrigating the barren lands, contributing a lot to reducing the gradually mounting pressure on underground water.
Khan said they have re-excavated 248-kilometer canals so far, creating the ability of extending low-cost irrigation to the farming fields from the water reservoir.
He also said they are making underground irrigation canals to limit misuse of water.
Scopes have also been generated for fish and duck farming by dint of the canal re-excavation improving the socio-economic conditions of people living in the neighborhoods.
Abul Kalam, a farmer of Dahia area, said re-excavation of all the existing derelict ponds and canals has become indispensable to enrich the surface water resources in the beel area to make its farming system protected.
He said the canals are silted by floodwater every ten years, and turned into derelict ones, causing water-logging problem, bringing a lot sufferings to the farmers.
Kalam, however, said the farmers didn't face the problem for the last two years for the BADC's canal re-excavation work.
Ariful Islam, Chairman of Italy Union in Shingra Upazila, said farmers have become delighted because they got the scopes of cultivating various seasonal crops and vegetables in the chalan beel area after deriving the irrigation privileges.
The initiatives of canal re-excavation together with removing water-logging problems have brought a new dimension to the farmers in improving their living and livelihood conditions, he said.
It has also created opportunities of boosting cropping intensity alongside diversification in the vast wetlands through using the surface water resources, he added.
Upon successful implementation by June, 2024, the project will facilitate boosting crop production, help improve the environment and establish a modern and sustainable irrigation management system, said Khan.
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