Commercial cultivation of Sweet Jumbo Grass on the char lands in the Brahmaputra basin has brought success to the extremely poor char people in achieving economic self-reliance in recent years.
Expanded cultivation of the Australian hybrid variety grass has also been helping the backward people of remote char areas in boosting animal husbandry and eradicating abject poverty through enhancing the prospective sector.A number of NGOs under the Chars Livelihood Programme (CLP), being funded by the UKaid through the Department for International Development, have been assisting the char people in ten northwestern riverine districts in farming the grass since 2008.Following expanded cultivation of the nutritious grass, milk production has become doubled with easy fattening of cows, incidents of cattle deaths reduced and fodder crisis of cattle heads during the rainy season has been resolved by and large in char areas.After getting excellent production with lucrative price during the past five consecutive years, the NGOs have launched expanded farming programme of the hybrid variety grass on over 3,500 acres land this season in the poverty-prone char areas.Agriculture and Environment Coordinator Mamunur Rashid of RDRS Bangladesh, one of the implementing organisations of CLP, said farming of the grass has been expanding fast in char areas on the Brahmaputra basin in recent years. The char people have been eradicating abject poverty through selling cattle-heads after fattening, increasing milk production, meeting nutritional demand of malnourished children and fodder crisis following huge production of the grass.Programme Manager (CLP) of RDRS Bangladesh Farzan Ahamed said the growers get the first harvest after one month of sowing seeds and total eight harvests every month from January to August.”The growers have been earning a net profit of Taka 75,000 on an average annually through cultivation of the grass on one acre char land excluding the production costs of Taka 20,000 after feeding own cows,” he said.Farmer Shahjahan Ali of village char Bozra Diarkhata under Chilmari upazila said he sowed seeds of Sweet Jumbo Grass on his 17 decimals land this time some three months ago like in the previous seasons.
“I am meeting total fodder demand of my 20 cows and already sold the produced grass at Taka 13,000 in two harvests during the past two months and earned the expected profits and there will be more five to six harvests,” he said.Farmers Faridul Islam and Abdul Baten of village Jadur Char in Roumari
upazila and Saidur Rahman of Char Kodalkati village in Rajibpur upazila told BSS that they have also cultivated the grass on their some 20 decimals land each. “We have already sold our produced grass at Taka 16,000 each so far after meeting our own demands for 12 to 15 cows during the past two months and we are expecting more profits after the next harvests,” they said.Mintu Mian of village Nalita Khata in Chilmari upazila said he has
cultivated the grass on his 50 decimals land and already sold the produced grass at Taka 20,000 after feeding his own twelve cows so far.Chilmari Upazila Agriculture Officer Nazrul Islam said the expanded cultivation of the nutritious grass helps in enhancing animal husbandry in the hardly reachable char areas to boost the prospective sector in bringing fortune to hundreds of the poor people.-BSS, Rangpur
