Floating farming gains popularity in Gopalganj

The traditional practice of cultivating vegetables on floating beds has been gaining popularity in the low lying areas of Gopalganj.

At least 3,000 marginal farmers of Tungipara, Kotalipara and Muksudpur upazilas of the district have benefited by cultivating vegetables on 20,000 floating beds at thousands of hectares of wetland this season, sources at the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) told The Business Post.

Farmers have been cultivating a wide variety of crops, including okra, beans, bitter gourd, papaya, brinjal, beet, pumpkin, tomato, spinach, punishak, potato, cucumber, and chilli. They also produce certain herbs, such as ginger and turmeric.

For its geographical location, most farmlands in Gopalganj are situated in low lying wetlands and remain underwater during the monsoon season, making it difficult for the farmers to grow vegetables.

Therefore, farmers and local youth have opted for floating vegetable farming, which is a high yielding, relatively easier, less costly cultivation method, as it does not require any fertilisers to stimulate growth.

Adding with that, the abundance of water hyacinth in the water bodies of the district has been turned into a blessing, as the farmers are making naturally nutrient-rich seedbeds with it, said Shakti Kirtonia, a farmer of Tungipara.

The unique system, locally known as ‘dhap’, has been used for cultivation for centuries in the low lying district where water remains for a prolonged period of time.

According to locals, these areas were largely unutilised as the vast wetland used to be waterlogged and packed with water hyacinth.

Floating garden vegetable growers, Boren Biswas, Bhupati Biswas from Tungipara upazila, said they prepare floating beds – usually 2- metre long, 1.5- metre wide – primarily by collecting water hyacinth and enclosing it with bamboo.

Once the bed is prepared, they make separate seedbeds with different aquatic weeds and coir to plant their preferred seed, they said.

Up to 2,000 plants can be grown on each floating bed that can be used at least five times in a year, farmers told The Business Post.

On a field visit, farmers and their family members were seen working on the floating beds, while their family members, especially women, take part in making spherical objects, locally called Doulla, in which seeds are sown, or seedlings are planted.

Gopalganj Agricultural Research Institute’s Senior Scientific Officer Md Mohsin Hawladar said with support from the district’s agriculture office, more and more farmers in this region are getting interested in cultivating vegetables on floating beds.

“We are providing seeds and pesticides among the farmers at free of cost to encourage them to go for floating garden farming, which has proved to be beneficial for many in the region,” he said.