Watch | Floating farms help Bangladesh adapt to climate change

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

November 14, 2021 01:39 pm | Updated 01:39 pm IST

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).

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.