Bangladesh urgently needs support in developing a climate-resilient agriculture if its people are to survive and prosper in the long term, according to some experts.
Climate change is affecting the country in many ways. For instance, rising sea levels are causing some agricultural land in coastal areas to become more saline, reducing both the quality and quantity of the produce available.
Aman paddy, vegetables, mustard, pulses, chilli on 2,60,330 hectares of lands have been damaged in the devastating cyclone Reshmi in 30 districts in the country, according to sources of the Ministry of Agriculture.
The annual "monga" season of deprivation has arrived in Kurigram, as well as six other northern areas, including Nilphamari, Lalmonirhat, Gaibandha, Rangpur, Panchagarh and Thakurgaon--some of the 64 districts.
Flash flood, caused by the incessant rains over the last week, and onrush of waters from across the border, submerged the vast areas in haor areas of the district leaving an unspecified number of people maroored by the deluge.
The flood affected are Karimganj, Katiadi, Nikli, Hossainpur, Kuliarchar, Bajitpur, Itna, Tarail, Austagram, Pukundi and port town Bhairab Bazar.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MoAC) said on Tuesday that the devastating flood caused by the Saptakoshi River breaching its embankment damaged crops worth Rs 300 million in Sunsari district.
A week-long field assessment conducted by an M0AC team shows that paddy cultivation suffered the biggest loss of Rs 180 million in the district, which is one of the leading paddy producers in the country.
The total area under paddy cultivation in Sunsari has been recorded at 50,920 hectares this year.
Indiscriminate use of pesticides on croplands and harmful fishing nets are responsible for extinction of many species of fresh water fishes to a great extent, Special Assistant to the Chief Adviser Manik Lal Samaddar said yesterday.
He also urged all stakeholders to work together to protect the remaining species of fresh water fishes and underscored the need for creating mass awareness to this end.
Manik was addressing a press conference at Matsya Bhaban in the city ahead of the Fish Resource Development Movement 2008 that begins tomorrow.
KENDRAPARA: Swarming caterpillars (Leda) have damaged large tracts of paddy saplings in the district badly hitting economic backbone of thousands of farmers.
"Help from the administration, however, is yet to reach the villagers more than three weeks after the first swarm of insects arrived here. The insects are black in colour and measuring less than an inch in length. Most of the crops have been destroyed in the area," said Gayadhar Dhal, secretary of Kendrapara District Krusaka Sabha.
Standing paddy across 10,000 hectares have been destroyed by unseasonal rains. No labour was in supply to harvest the crop in time.
Mechanical harvesters couldn't be used since the CPI(M)'s union refused to give timely permission
It requires union consent for Kerala farmers to bring in labour from outside or use machines
Five farmer suicides in the last fortnight.
Extreme cold, ice and snow in 20 provinces of southern China since January have damaged crops of rapeseed, vegetables and fruits, along with some 190,000 hectares (ha) of winter wheat.
150,000 ha of rice fields were destroyed by a cold spell in Vietnam.
This paper quantifies how African farmers have adapted their crop and irrigation decisions to their farm's current agro-ecological zone. The results indicate that farmers carefully consider the climate and other conditions of their farm when making these choices. These results are then used to forecast how farmers might change their irrigation and crop choice decisions if climate changes. The model predicts African farmers would adopt irrigation more often under a very hot and dry climate scenario but less often with a mild and wet scenario.
Extreme cold, ice and snow in 20 provinces of southern China since January have damaged crops of rapeseed, vegetables and fruits, along with some 190,000 hectares (ha) of winter wheat.
