Watch | Floating farms help Bangladesh adapt to climate change

A video on how Bangladesh farmers revived a century-old technique of soil-free cultivation

Global warming has led to extreme change in climate in countries like Bangladesh. As a result, the region faces frequent floods that hinder agriculture and the annual cycle of harvesting crops. To cope with this, farms have adopted an innovative method of cultivation known as 'Dhap' or 'Baira'. Here, floating beds are created with bamboo, water hyacinth, coir and wood chippings. Atop these, crops like Spinach and Bitter gourd are grown. These raft like farms range between two and four feet long and can weather volatile waters or inundation. Used rafts are composted.

The UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization declared Bangladesh’s floating farms method as a globally important agricultural heritage system in December 2015. Many floating gardens have been started by government agencies like the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) and Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE).