Canal water irrigation has been contributing transplanted Aman paddy in the high Barind tract Gausul Islam, 50, a farmer of Paharpur village under Godgari Upazila of the district, said during the rainless condition, the farmers transplanted paddy and subsequently protected it through using irrigation water from the nearby Godagari canal.“I have cultivated paddy on 15 bigha of land. Now, I am totally depended on the canal water for transplanting and protecting the growing crop,” Islam added. Golam Hossain, 42, another farmer of Shibpur village under Tan ore Upazila, protected his paddy on five bigha of land from the rainless condition after using water from Shibpur canal. He said canal water has become blessing for
many farmers in terms of surviving their transplanted paddy.Another farmer Monsur Rahman, 47, of Bangsidhar village under the same upazila has brought ten bigha of land under transplanted aman paddy
cultivation through using water from a nearby re-excavated canal. B Like them, around 7,500 other farmers cultivated paddy and other seasonal crops and vegetables on 6,260 bigha of lands this season using canal water in 11 dry areas where conventional irrigation facilities have become ineffective
due to water-scarce condition.
In addition to construction of five check dams, 4.85-kilometer canals were re-excavated with initiative of a development project titled “Integrated ater Resource Management (IWRM)” with the main thrust of protecting crops from any drought like situation. Union Parishad (UP) and respective community
extended five percent contribution each to the venture.
So far, the farmers used 22.60-crore liters water for the irrigation purposes in Godagari, Badhair, Kalma and Daldali UPs under Godagari, Tanore and Vholahat Upazilas, said Jahangir Alam Khan, assistant project coordinator.
DASCOH Foundation and Swiss Red Cross have jointly been implementing the IWRM project in drought-affected 39 UPs and three pourasabhas in Rajshahi, Naogaon and Chapainawabgonj districts since 2015.
Jahangir Khan said IWRM project intends to build UPs as effective and pro- people institution through farmers’ level sustainable water resource management models amidst participation of local people.
Lutfor Haider Rashid Moina, chairman of Kalma UP, said he has re-excavatedn 2.5-kilometer derelict canals for rainwater conservation with financial and technical support from IWRM project.
He also constructed two concrete check-dams in the canal and a big sizenn water reservoir so that the rainwater is conserved during monsoon for providing irrigation to the nearby cropping fields.
Referring to various research findings, Professor Chowdhury SarwarJahan of Department of Geology and Mining in Rajshahi University said around 3,000 liters of water needs to produce one kilogram of paddy.
Barind area’s irrigation system is largely dependent on underground water.
So, huge underground water is extracted for crop cultivation including paddy every year.
Step should be taken to excavate and re-excavate all the existing derelict ponds and canals for boosting uses of surface water for irrigation purposes. The measures can be effective means of proper aquifer recharge.
Stressing the need for environment-friendly more irrigation schemes like IWRM, he said there is no alternative but to promote surface water based irrigation to protect the groundwater resources, reports BSS, from Rajshahi.
