Salinity grips 10 Bagerhat villages
The water of the Baleshwar river in Bagerhat’s Kachua upazila has never tasted salty in 58-year-old farmer Altaf Hossain’s life, until this year.
To his utter dismay and shock, Altaf’s watermelon, sunflower and paddy saplings were completely damaged after he irrigated his croplands with Baleshwar’s water.
“I have never seen saline water in our area before,” said Altaf of Charsonakur village in the upazila.
“Salty water started to enter our locality from February killing our paddy, pulse, watermelon and sunflower plants,” he said.
Not just Altaf, farmers of 10 villages -- Charsonakur, Choto Andharmanik, Baro Andharmanik, Sammankanti, Sahabatkanti, Kalishakhali, Tengrakhali, Char Tengrakhali, Gopalpur and Malipatan -- expressed similar shock and distress at the loss of their crops this year due to high salinity levels in the Baleshwar.
Farmer Sikandar Sheikh, 50, a resident Tengrakhali village, said, ‘‘When the salinity began to decrease from the last week of June, we started to sow Aman paddy seeds in the fields. But, the seedlings are not growing properly because of the residual salt in the soil, which is also causing skin irritation.’’
Another farmer of the area Fayzul Islam, 53, said, ‘‘Due to less rain and increasing salinity, betel nuts, vegetables and other crops will not grow properly. We are in great despair facing salinity for the first time.’’
According to Soil Resource Development Institute (SRDI) officials, salinity below 0.75 decisiemens per metre (dS/m) is considered safe for irrigation; river water salinity decreases upstream from the estuary and depends on rainfall.
“Salinity naturally starts to increase in all rivers of the country from February and reaches its peak between May and June. Salinity decreases if rainfall starts early in May or late in July,” said Shachindra Nath Biswas, principal scientific officer of SRDI Khulna office, which looks after the Bagerhat region.
Although SRDI does not have salinity data specifically from Kachua upazila, but salinity measured this year in June in the Baleshwar river under the Pirojpur Bridge near the Bagerhat-Pirojpur road was 7.1 dS/m, he said.
In July, it came down to 3.2 dS/m and in August it was 0.42 dS/m, he added.
Last year, the salinity level in Baleshwar under the Pirojpur Bridge point remained high even in September at 1.34 dS/m, said Sabbir Hossen, principal scientific officer of SRDI, Barisal regional office, which is located on the east of the river.
He said that flow of water in the upriver of Baleshwar, Bishkhali, Payra and Tetulia are going down at alarming rate.
“If upstream flow is normal then saline water intrusion does not occur that far inward (from the estuary),” he said, referring to the 10 villages that are on the west bank of Baleshwar.
The scientist said that SRDI will investigate whether a new pocket of salinity intrusion has been created in that region.
Deputy Director of Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) in Bagerhat Md Aftab Uddin said rainfall this year has been the lowest in the last 10 years, thus the pressure of freshwater in the river was lower than the saline water from the Bay.
Aftab expressed concern over this year’s Aman production.
Meanwhile, farmer Altaf believes that saline water entered their village because of the on-going dredging of Ghosiakhali channel, that connects the Baleshwar and the Bhairab river, in Taleshwar area under Bagerhat Sadar upazila.
Director of SRDI Bidhan Kuman Bhander said the Ghosiakhali channel, which was closed due to siltation, does not have any upstream flow.
He said they will investigate whether opening the channel is increasing the salinity of Baleshwar, which normally has high freshwater flow.
When asked about the dredging of the channel, Executive Engineer of Bagerhat Water Development Board Nahid Uzzaman Khan said salinity increased in the area due to sea level rise and less rainfall.
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