Farmers of Barind region of Rajshahi are being benefitted by adopting the Farming System Project adopted by Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute. The system is also aiding to preserve nature and the environment.
BARI Field Research Section is assisting 24 farmers of Eidgahpara, Belpukur and Kadamsahar area under Godagari upazila to cultivate various types of vegetables, fruit trees, rearing of ducks, poultry birds, pigeons and pisciculture. They are making compost by using litter of poultry and cow dung and using those at their fields to cultivate vegetables and plants.
Officials of FSP were distributing improved seeds of paddy, vegetables and fruits among farmers for several years and were helping them through various training to learn new systems of farming and of new technologies. Afroza Begum and Rafia Khatun, farmers of Belpukur village under Godagari upazila informed, they were producing enough vegetables at their courtyards to feed their family members and were also selling some of that excess produce. They further informed, they used to earn extra money by selling poultry birds and eggs.
Rakib Hasan, Akkas Ali and Hafizur Rahman of the same village informed, they were being benefited by adopting the farming system. Specially the courtyard, derelict pond and fallow land which remained unused for ages are being used as money earners. They were also being benefitted by the cow fattening project and by making compost under the FSP.
MA Hossain, Sr Scientific Officer of BARI informed, the farming system has got popular among farmers of the Barind region. He said, for the last one and a half years, BARI through the FSP was distributing seeds and saplings of various plants and vegetables, assisting through training and technology to the farmers. The FSP was working well for development of the financial condition of the farmers, diversifying patterns of farming and retaining ecological as well as environmental balance.
Professor Dr. Aminul Haque, former Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture of Rajshahi University informed, FSP was a farmers and agriculture-friendly project. It is possible to change the economic and environmental scenario of the Barind region through adopting the system by the farmers, he mentioned.