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Boro growers struggling with irrigation as India is not releasing enough water
Dhaka Tribune – April 16, 2014
The boro paddy growers in Bangladesh’s north are struggling with irrigation this season because India has been reportedly holding back more water than ever to irrigate an expanded stretch of arable land on the Teesta basin.
These growers are having to resort to expensive extraction of underground water using shallow pumps. Farmers say irrigation with underground water is over 12 times more expensive that irrigation with river water.
Since India installed a barrage at Gajoldoba in West Bengal in 1977, Bangladesh has been getting around 5,000 cubic feet per second (cusec) water on an average during the lean season.
The Teesta Irrigation Project, actively providing irrigation in three northern districts – Nilphamari, Dinajpur and Rangpur – since 1993, requires around 2,000 cusec of water for watering 65,000 hectares of boro land.
But during this boro season, the flow has alarmingly come down to as little as 500 cusec – one-tenth of the usual flow – with which only about 20,000 hectares of land is being cultivated.
That is why, the project authorities have no other option but to do water rationing, which then again is said to be harmful for this particular breed of paddy because it needs constant presence of water.
“Over the last one and a half months, we have been releasing water one at a time for each of the districts. We do not have enough water to meet everyone’s demand [in three districts under the project] simultaneously,” said Sub-Divisional Engineer Moinuddin Mondol, who has been working with the Teesta Irrigation Project for more than 30 years.
Anowarul Alam, deputy director of the Department of Agriculture Extension in Dinajpur, told the Dhaka Tribune that: “The rationing system of irrigation is not a solution because boro paddy requires regular water flow.”
Boro is one of the major crops in Bangladesh, contributing a giant portion of the annual demand for food.
On papers, the Teesta runs along nearly 19.63 lakh hectares of arable on its basin. Of that stretch, 7.49 lakh falls within Bangladesh and the remaining 12.14 lakh in India. Reportedly, India has seldom managed to bring the entire stretch of its land under cultivation during the lean season.
In an interview with BBC Bangla Service on March 14, Rajib Banerjee, minister of irrigation of West Bengal, said the state government had been planning to expand its farmland coverage this season; as a result they would be needing more water for irrigation.
In that interview, he also said since there was no legally binding treaty on sharing Teesta water, it was only logical for India to fulfil its own irrigation demand and then think about releasing water for Bangladesh.
The lives and livelihoods of around ninety lakh people from Nilphamari, Kurigram, Lalmonirhat, Rangpur and Dinajpur districts are directly and indirectly dependent on Teesta water and boro farming.
The boro growers have been for years irrigating their boro land with water from the Teesta project canals that run along their fields. However, this season, many of them had to install shallow pumps to suck up water from underground because the canals have all dried up.
Sultan Ali, a boro grower from the Chirir Bondor Upazila of Dinajpur, shared his predicament with the Dhaka Tribune. “Despite having a canal of the Teesta Irrigation Project right beside my fields, I was forced to set up a shallow pump to irrigate my 2.02 hectares of land,” He said.
“I have to pay around Tk15,000 per hectare from my pocket for irrigating my land with underground water. On the other hand, I pay the government only Tk1,200 per hectare for using water from the project,” Sultan said.
“Most medium and large farmers have already set up shallow pumps because they do not want to risk their investments. But the small growers are turning out to be the worst sufferers because they cannot afford pumps,” said, DAE Deputy Director Anwarul Alam.
He also feared that boro production in the region could suffer a major blow this year because there had been no regular flow of water.
Mir Sajjad Hossain, member of the Joint River Commission, said the situation in the Teesta basin had never been worse.
“This is an unusual situation. On March 9 this year, flow was only 409 cusec – the lowest in history. This is happening because India is unilaterally deciding on the water flow from upstream,” Sajjad said.
“The government of West Bengal might not be interested in the Teesta treaty at all, but we have no other option but to immediately sign a bilateral agreement in this regard,” he suggested.
Toughest time for Teesta farmers | Dhaka Tribune
Read more on India’s water aggression with Bangladesh –
The India Doctrine (1947-2007) | Mohammad Munshi - Academia.edu
Boro growers struggling with irrigation as India is not releasing enough water
Dhaka Tribune – April 16, 2014
The boro paddy growers in Bangladesh’s north are struggling with irrigation this season because India has been reportedly holding back more water than ever to irrigate an expanded stretch of arable land on the Teesta basin.
These growers are having to resort to expensive extraction of underground water using shallow pumps. Farmers say irrigation with underground water is over 12 times more expensive that irrigation with river water.
Since India installed a barrage at Gajoldoba in West Bengal in 1977, Bangladesh has been getting around 5,000 cubic feet per second (cusec) water on an average during the lean season.
The Teesta Irrigation Project, actively providing irrigation in three northern districts – Nilphamari, Dinajpur and Rangpur – since 1993, requires around 2,000 cusec of water for watering 65,000 hectares of boro land.
But during this boro season, the flow has alarmingly come down to as little as 500 cusec – one-tenth of the usual flow – with which only about 20,000 hectares of land is being cultivated.
That is why, the project authorities have no other option but to do water rationing, which then again is said to be harmful for this particular breed of paddy because it needs constant presence of water.
“Over the last one and a half months, we have been releasing water one at a time for each of the districts. We do not have enough water to meet everyone’s demand [in three districts under the project] simultaneously,” said Sub-Divisional Engineer Moinuddin Mondol, who has been working with the Teesta Irrigation Project for more than 30 years.
Anowarul Alam, deputy director of the Department of Agriculture Extension in Dinajpur, told the Dhaka Tribune that: “The rationing system of irrigation is not a solution because boro paddy requires regular water flow.”
Boro is one of the major crops in Bangladesh, contributing a giant portion of the annual demand for food.
On papers, the Teesta runs along nearly 19.63 lakh hectares of arable on its basin. Of that stretch, 7.49 lakh falls within Bangladesh and the remaining 12.14 lakh in India. Reportedly, India has seldom managed to bring the entire stretch of its land under cultivation during the lean season.
In an interview with BBC Bangla Service on March 14, Rajib Banerjee, minister of irrigation of West Bengal, said the state government had been planning to expand its farmland coverage this season; as a result they would be needing more water for irrigation.
In that interview, he also said since there was no legally binding treaty on sharing Teesta water, it was only logical for India to fulfil its own irrigation demand and then think about releasing water for Bangladesh.
The lives and livelihoods of around ninety lakh people from Nilphamari, Kurigram, Lalmonirhat, Rangpur and Dinajpur districts are directly and indirectly dependent on Teesta water and boro farming.
The boro growers have been for years irrigating their boro land with water from the Teesta project canals that run along their fields. However, this season, many of them had to install shallow pumps to suck up water from underground because the canals have all dried up.
Sultan Ali, a boro grower from the Chirir Bondor Upazila of Dinajpur, shared his predicament with the Dhaka Tribune. “Despite having a canal of the Teesta Irrigation Project right beside my fields, I was forced to set up a shallow pump to irrigate my 2.02 hectares of land,” He said.
“I have to pay around Tk15,000 per hectare from my pocket for irrigating my land with underground water. On the other hand, I pay the government only Tk1,200 per hectare for using water from the project,” Sultan said.
“Most medium and large farmers have already set up shallow pumps because they do not want to risk their investments. But the small growers are turning out to be the worst sufferers because they cannot afford pumps,” said, DAE Deputy Director Anwarul Alam.
He also feared that boro production in the region could suffer a major blow this year because there had been no regular flow of water.
Mir Sajjad Hossain, member of the Joint River Commission, said the situation in the Teesta basin had never been worse.
“This is an unusual situation. On March 9 this year, flow was only 409 cusec – the lowest in history. This is happening because India is unilaterally deciding on the water flow from upstream,” Sajjad said.
“The government of West Bengal might not be interested in the Teesta treaty at all, but we have no other option but to immediately sign a bilateral agreement in this regard,” he suggested.
Toughest time for Teesta farmers | Dhaka Tribune
Read more on India’s water aggression with Bangladesh –
The India Doctrine (1947-2007) | Mohammad Munshi - Academia.edu
I don't expect things to change as most of the rivers will dry up in BD. I guess we have to go for new technologies in the future like desalination/ water recycling/ and try to get some water out of treaties with these communal goons. But before that the filthy maggots in power sucking our blood dry need to be squashed and buried for good.
