For Full Paper please contact Dr Mohammed Ataur Rahman, Director CGEC, IUBAT, Uttara Model Town, Dhaka -1230, Bangladesh; Email: marahman@iubat.edu, marahman@wwoofbangladesh.org or ar_forest@yahoo.com

This paper was presented in the Global Summit on Coastal Seas EMECS 9 on August 28-31 2011 in Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Human pressure, deforestation, pollution, upstream dams, flatland cultivation practices, shrimp culture and unplanned infrastructures cause major causes to the coastal zones and adjacent hills. Destruction of mangroves of Chokoria Sundarbans and Cox’s Bazar are the result of shrimp culture. About 91% of the perennial streams of the Chittagong and CHT have lost their dry season flows, resulting in a serious water crisis. Discharge of effluents from the shrimp hatcheries, digging of shrimp ponds and hill-cuttings have caused erosion. The sea current has already damaged 3.4km of sea shore from Kolatoti to Himchari in Cox’s Bazar.

The study reveals that more than 34 plant species of tropical rainforest including Podocarpus nerifolia and Enteda phaseoloids which face extinction. Animal lives such as cats, bears, porcupine, wild boars, pythons and anteaters have become rare. Red crabs, jelly fish, sharks, and dolphins have become rare since 1980. Hilsa ilisha has migrated to Myanmar coast and further deep sea, but marine Hilsa used to breed in the fresh waters of the Ganges, Brahmaputa and Meghna’s meeting point Chandpur to Gualanda, about 100-150 km inside Bangladesh. The Halda freshwater fish breeding zone has move 14 km east due to increased salinity in the Bay of Bengal.

For Full paper please contact Dr Mohammed Ataur Rahman Email: ar_forest@yahoo.com, marahman@iubat.edu or marahman@wwoofbangladesh.org

This paper was presented in the Global Summit on Coastal Seas EMECS 9 on August 28-31, 2011 in Baltimore, Maryland, USA

For full paper and PPT please contact: Dr. MA Rahman email: marahman@iubat.edu, ar_forest@yahoo.com, marahman@wwoofbangladesh.org

The paper was presented in the 17th IFOAM Organic World Congress and WWOOF International Conference in South Korea in September 26-October 1, 2011

Permaculture means intensive cropping without disturbing or damaging the natural habitat and biodiversity and is widely practiced in the modern world for growing crops with little or no disturbance of the soil and landscape using little or no tillage practice. It is also called as sustainable agriculture, organic farming, and very recently Climate-smart agriculture. Permaculture considers soil and biodiversity conservation, optimum use of water and its conservation, wind and storm protection, nutrient and short-cycled biomass recycling, multiple and multistory cropping culture for maximum land and productivity. It also considers “right crop at right place in right time”. For choosing the crop, land should dictate the crop but not by the crop. Possibly, Permaculture is the modern version of our early twentieth century’s homestead farming of the Brahmaputra and Ganges deltaic region. However, roadside plantation was done during the period of the great Emperor Sher Shah Suri, along the Grand Sonargaon-Delhi-Peshawar Trunk Road.

Before 1980’s, Bangladesh and eastern Indian region was very rich in Permaculture especially in the homesteads and the avenues. Still, the rural homes are rich with homestead farming. Every home is considered as an eco-niche; provides shelter for family members and domestics, vegetations for food, fodder, shade, fuel, fence, medicine, beautification etc., and also shelterbelts to protect the storms and winds. With the growing development of road transportation infrastructure, we need to design a planned roadside-permaculture for land utilization and crop production with provision for windbreaks, shade, aeration, light penetration, and ensures recycling of the refuses without disturbance of the adjacent cultivable land. Permaculture will also help to protect artificial lights emit from the transports at night towards the adjacent field crops.

Roadside Permacultutre should be designed considering the following criteria:
• Greenery for beauty and shade and carbon sequestration
• Protection of adjacent field crops from transport lights
• Windbreaks and shelter belts
• Dust, sound and erosion control
• Economical land utilization
• Food security

For roadside permaculture, multipurpose tree crops (MPTCs), hedges, fruit and vegetables, fibres, oil seeds, grams and peas, medicinal plants etc. are to be selected according to their habit and habitats. The preferred MPTCs are:

Mango: for fruit, timber, shade, windbreak, microclimate and soil improvement; plant to plant distance should be 6 meter; suitable varieties (Jat) should be selected for different regions. Propagation is done by seeds and grafting.

Jackfruit: for fruit, timber, windbreak, vegetable and fodder; plant to plant distance 6 meter; flood free terraces with red soil are preferred. Propagation: by seeds and grafting. Pruning of young shoots or branches of the mature trees are needed to be done in the month of Bhadra.

Black berry: for fruit, timber, shade, windbreak, microclimate and soil improvement; plant to plant distance should be 6 meter; high humus soil with high water-table are preferred. Propagation: by seeds.

Palmyra palm: for fruit, toddy, timber, canoe, windbreak, microclimate and soil improvement, erosion control; leaves are used as thatch, fans, mats and handicrafts, and brooms; plant to plant distance should be 4-6 meter; it is cosmopolitan and can withstand strong winds with speed 300 km even more. Propagation: by seeds.

Dates: for fruit, Juice and toddy, timber, windbreak, microclimate, erosion control, leaves are used as thatch, fans, handicrafts, and brooms; plant to plant distance should be 4-6 meter; it is cosmopolitan and can withstand strong winds with speed 300 km even more. Propagation: by seeds.

Coconut: green coconuts are for drink, mature fruits are for oil, cooking, cakes; timber, canoe, windbreak, microclimate and soil improvement, erosion control; leaves are used as thatch, fans, mats and handicrafts, and brooms; plant to plant distance should be 6 meter; it prefers high water-table zones and can withstand strong winds. Propagation: by fruits.

Drumstick or Sajina: Sticks and leaves are used for vegetables and have a great medicinal value especially for sexual dysfunction and products are used for increased energy and vitality, mental and emotional wellbeing, bursting with anti-aging nutrients, healthy blood naturally, organic nutrients for mother, clarity, focus, and concentration, skin and viral diseases etc. Propagation: by seeds and branch cuttings. Plant to plant distance should be 3-4 meter.

Kul: a very important nutritious fruit crop; propagation preferred with bud grafting. Plant to plant distance should be 2.5 – 3 meter. Yearly pruning immediately after harvesting of the fruit is recommended.

Small fruit crops: the most important fruit crops are:

Guava: Important fruit crop rich with calcium and vitamin C; propagation by seeds and grafting, plant to plant distance is 2 to 2.5 meter; pruning at alternative year is better but no mulching.

Lemons: Important citrus fruits, very rich with vitamin C, flavorful. Mulching is highly required especially is dry season.

Banana: very suitable fruit crop for roadside permaculture and intercropping with lemons. 3-4 shoots are optimum in a clump. Green banana and inflorescence are used as vegetables. Banana leaves are used for thatch, fence and peels are rich with potassium, and the ashes are used for washing cloths and as potash source. Propagation by sucker; best planting time is Baishak-Jaistya and Bhadra and Ashwin.

Papaya: a very important fruit and vegetable crop. Early cropping, propagation by seeds, plant to plant distance is 2 meter and can be grown throughout the year. Dry season Irrigation is required.

Other seasonal vegetable and fruit crops like Shim, Jingha, Purol, Kakrol, pumkin, gourds, arums, pineapple and musk melon etc. can be planted with or without small supports.

Hedge plants: the suitable hedge plants are Mehedi (Henna), Ixora, Lantana, Akanda can be planted along the roadsides especially to protect the other crops from the transport lights. Mehdi, Lantana and Akanda should be pruned regularly. Mehdi leaves are good cosmetic dye, tattoos and also prevent dandruff. Lantana and Akanda are very important liquid pesticides especially for Biodynamic preparations.
Annual and biannual pulse crops like Black gram, Mung bean and Pigeon pea can be grown along the roadsides.

Some important cash crops like silk cotton, mulberry, Jatropha can also be grown along the roadsides. However, some important commercial medicinal plants like Bohera, Neem, Amloki, Horitoki, Nishinda, Kalomegh, Tulsi, Nayantara, Stinging nettle, Sarpagangandha, Aloe vera (Gritokumari) etc. can be grown with little or no care and most of them are self propagated.

A few ecofriendly tree crops like Chateem, Tetul, Kadamba can also be planted along the roadsides.

The roadside permaculture should consider the healthy environment and eco-friendly habitat with fruit and multipurpose tree crops, vegetables and spices, arums and medicinal plants. However, now-a-days many people have started to grow some exotic trees tike Sissoo, Rain tree, Mahogany, Acacia, Epil-epil and Eucalyptus etc., influenced by some so-called experts’ propaganda “Plant tree and save the environment”. These plants do not allow good undergrowth, affects surrounding area giving shade or withdrawing huge soil nutrients and water, and some invite wildfires and cause more damages during storms and cyclones. Their leaves are not readily decomposable even sometimes take more than 2 years for decomposition. Moreover, thousands of Sissoo, Rain tree and Acacias are dying every year due to water-logging and acid rains.
Therefore, no such plants must be planted along the roads and highways.

Although Bangladesh is considered as an agriculture rich economy-based country with very little land per capita but land use and productivity is very poor. Therefore, we must look into the matter and should try to utilize our land in a very productive and efficient way for our livelihood materials, food security and employment and also for natural protection mechanism. The permaculture technique is a new dimension for growing crops; emphasizes the daily management of natural resources with rigorous and complex agrosilvipastoral systems for conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, resource management and production towards food security. An urgent policy planning is needed to implement permaculture for the benefit of the nation.

Dr Mohammed Ataur Rahman
Director, Centre for Global Environmental Culture & Education for Sustainability
International University of Business Agriculture and Technology (IUBAT)
Date: April 27, 2011

Before 1980’s, Bangladesh and eastern Indian region was very rich in Permaculture especially in the homesteads. Still, the rural homes are rich with homestead farming. Every home is considered as an eco-niche; provides shelter for family members and domestics, vegetations for food, fodder, shade, fuel, fence, medicine, beautification etc., and also shelterbelts to protect the storms and winds. A model rural home is designed in a much planned way with provision for aeration, light penetration, and ensures recycling of the refuses. Traditional homestead farming uses wide range of species; is the unique example for biodiversity conservation and maximizes productivity and ensures maximum uses of land and space. These practices were derived from indigenous and traditional knowledge and wisdom after long days’ trial and error. The present “One Home and One Farm” concept has been discussed in my book “Plantation Crop and Organic Farming” Research Article Series 1, in the topic “Model Rural Homestead Farming”- A Real Example of Crop Diversification, in January 2004.

Traditionally people used to design a home facing south or east, a pond in the east, bamboos and forest groves in the north and in the south sun loving small plants: vegetables and fruits and spices etc. Coconut and areca nut are used to grown near the water sources. Considering the healthy environment and eco-friendly habitat, fruit and multipurpose tree crops viz. mango, jackfruit, black berry, litchi, Palmyra palm, Hog plant, Drumstick and Neem etc. are grown maintaining proper spacing. Many creepers and climbers for seasonal vegetables and spices; corms and arums, are the important homestead crops. However, now-a-days many people have started to grow some exotic trees tike Rain tree, Mahogany, Acacia, Epil-epil and Eucalyptus etc., influenced by some so-called experts’ propaganda “Plant tree and save the environment”, in their homesteads although these plants are not suitable for growing in the homesteads. These plants do not allow good undergrowth, affects surrounding area giving shade or withdrawing huge soil nutrients and water, and some invite wildfires and cause more damages during storms and cyclones. Their leaves are not readily decomposable even sometimes take more than 2 years for decomposition.

However, a home is a great source of livelihood materials, a nice place for exchanging and recycling ingredients, option and origin for organic farming and activity spot for direct participation by all family members without limiting by time period. Home gardening in participation with women utilizing their knowledge of crops, soil, water management, medicinal plants, growing techniques, daily management of natural resources representing the most complex agrosilvipastoral systems which should be recognized for conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, resource management and production. Therefore, the productivity and importance of homestead vegetation and crop is significantly higher than any other high-tech cropping culture. Indigenous cultures, practices and wide range uses of hundreds of species in a limited space widened the implication of biodiversity. It is advised that, without knowing the habit and habitats of plants and animals and their ecological impacts, the expert or policy makers should not misguide and influence the simple villagers to adopt a harmful and bad practice for short-term benefit.

Dr Mohammed Ataur Rahman
Director, Centre for Global Environmental Culture
International University of Business Agriculture and Technology (IUBAT)
Date: January 27, 2011

However, a large part of hilly areas are under state forest and some are under tea and rubber plantation. In the remaining part, Jhum (shifting cultivation following slash and burn method) is being practiced by the tribal people, especially in Chittagong hill tracts and locally in other areas. Jhum involves clearing of forest land after several years (4-5 years) of fallow. But now the fallow period has been reduced further to 2 years due to non-availability of land. This exposure of land has increased the chance of soil erosion and further degradation of land. In May 9, 2009, the massive land-sliding blocked the flow of the river Sango and in 29th July, 10 people were killed due to land-sliding in the Bandarban Hill District.

The Jhum crops include early summer highland rice, maize, cotton, sesame, turmeric, ginger, banana, chilies and vegetables etc. Locally plantations of pineapple and orange also occupy small areas. Vegetables, tobacco and wetland rice are the major crops grown in the valleys, and adjoining plains. Every year more and more land is becoming denuded due to unplanned agricultural expansion. Surface run-off is the main cause of soil resource loss and land degradation. A continuous process of soil and nutrient loss is going on all over the Hill soils under high rates of precipitation. The process is accelerated by the open cultivation system on steep to very steep land. In the greater district of Sylhet, growing of pineapple in the hilly areas is causing extensive erosion. The plants are grown in rows which are mostly oriented vertically down the slope. The inter-row spaces are clear-tilled by hoeing leaving the loosened soils highly vulnerable to sheet and gully erosion. In Chittagong Hill Tracts, soil erosion is mainly due to shifting cultivation. The worsening soil fertility of hill soils becomes more serious if the faulty cultivation goes on unabated.

Due to mono-cropping and use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers especially in tea plantation, the soil fertility has been declined. Despite introduction of 17 high-yielding clones the yield of tea has not been increasing for last 10 years. Moreover, the catchments are being raised by expanding paddy cultivation and the total peripheral tea has lost their root zone and thus declining the total area at an alarming rate.

The density of population of the hilly region has been increasing at an alarming rate and the present cultivation practices have been deteriorating the soil fertility and nutrient status. Biodiversity is in a great threat. Many of flora and fauna are endangered. Therefore, food chain as a whole is disrupted. The overall human activity needs immediate attention to restore the food chain, restore the eco-partners, pollinators, tree crops especially for timber, fruits, soil conservation and soil creation, wind protection, habitat for associate flora and fauna etc., and for restoration of hydrological cycle to revive the perennial streams. High water table indicator flora e.g. wild banana, ferns, zinzibers, canes and bamboos etc. should be re-established. Right plant (crop) at right place according to their habit and habitat is needed be cultured. Due to lack of sufficient green coverage, the perennial streams are drying up in the dry season. As a result, there has been prevailing a great water crisis in the hilly zones of Bangladesh. Upland dams are causing detrimental effects changing the ecological conditions, reducing surface area, blocking the seepage water flows (capillaries) by continuous impediments. Moreover, after heavy torrential rainfall, the dams become a great risk for the downstream dwellers. The reservoirs made by the dams in the hilly regions are not so productive for fish culture due to high depth.

Most of the crops especially the fruits like jackfruit, citrus and lemons, litchi, Kao (Garcinia) and pineapple etc., and vegetables are seasonal; harvested in summer/wet monsoon. It is very difficult to manage the crops due to poor post harvest facilities and transportation. A huge quantity of summer crops is being damaged every year due to above reasons and the farmers do not get their price. Post harvest management of crops needs utmost attention.

In most of the hilly regions of Bangladesh, indigenous and migrant people along with Bangalees are living there maintaining their own food habits. Many indigenous tribes consume locally grown herbs and spices for food and medicine. In contrast, some of the tribes and migrant laborers are habituated with excess drinking of locally made wine and with smoking and chewing tobacco. In most cases, they spend their whole weekly income within 4-5 days and remain hungry and suffer from malnutrition. These people need motivation and sustainable supply of necessary and healthy foods.

Multidisciplinary action is needed for improvement of the agro-economic conditions of the hilly regions of Bangladesh. Selecting the target households, farmer’s community based organization development, setting of social, agricultural and environmental baselines, choosing of right crops and right cultural practices for a specific agro-ecological zone, bio-diversification with long-term adapted species, varieties bringing more species under cropping culture according to their habits and habitats, improvement of hydrological cycles and to keep the water tables up for reviving the perennial stream by establishing appropriate plant species, uses of organic fertilizers and pesticides to restore flora and fauna especially, the mycorrhiza, eco-partners and pollinating agents etc., and to protect the soil and water bodies from pollution from conventional use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Identification of specific requirements of target households in each region, provision of seed and planting material to encourage diversification, provision of advice on improved technology and practices, provision of farm machinery to ensure use of technology to boost up production, , identification of best local practices, awareness raising of social and economic issues related to food security for all members of disadvantaged households, provision of training, awareness raising on nutritious food and health related issues, monitoring yields and environmental impacts, monitoring the social well being of target households, monitoring and evaluation of the impacts of the actions on well-beings of households and reporting for widespread dissemination of the results of these actions.

Land and environment degradation remain an important problem because it’s adverse effect on agricultural production. Inappropriate agriculture practices, particularly in areas with fragile ecosystems increase the loss of productivity of resource-poor farmers. There are strong, direct relationships between agricultural productivity, hunger, and poverty. Increased agricultural productivity enables farmers to grow more food, which translates into better diet and under market conditions that offer a level playing field, into higher farm income. Farmers should be made aware of and encouraged to adopt improved agricultural practices and soil conservation measures to enhance productivity, which are-

Habitat Restoration and Permaculture: The prime and foremost important activity is to restore the habitat to create the climatic conditions for reviving hydrological cycles through trans-evaporation, surface and underground water flows and to keep the ground water table up. To do this, action will be taken for planting evergreen and deciduous trees at a proportion of 4:1 according to their habit and habitat. Crops will also be chosen and planted preferring mixed plantation method according to their habit of co-existence and long run adaptation.

Improved Jhum and use of improved germplasm: Jhum is likely to continue as a fundamental land use system in the region. Improving the sustainable management of the natural resources in this area must therefore consider sustainable alternatives within jhum farming. An improved jhum can be created by selectively weeding the fields and enriching them by planting species that increase the rate of return of organic matter to the soil and have some commercial interest for the farmer (such as commercial bamboos and various leguminous shrubs). Repeated campaigns with field demonstrations are needed to show them that adoption of improved varieties will better suit their needs

Conservation of soil moisture: The Hill farmers of Bangladesh generally cultivate their crops under rain-fed conditions. The average yield is low in most cases because of their inadequate knowledge about appropriate sowing time under rain-fed cropping system. In Bangladesh, November-December is the best planting time for winter vegetables in the plains but it is too late for hilly areas. In hilly regions, suitable slopping lands are available for early sowing, usually in October. If crops are planted in October, both higher yields and market prices will be obtained.

Zero-Tillage Practice: A cultural practice like zero-tillage is one of the most important factors for higher crop production in rain-fed agriculture especially in hill regions. Zero tillage enhances and sustains farm production by conserving and improving soil, water and biological resources. Essentially, it maintains a permanent or semi-permanent organic soil cover that protects the soil from sun, rain and wind and allows soil micro-organisms and fauna to take on the task of “tilling” and soil nutrient balancing – natural processes disturbed by mechanical tillage. Zero-tillage is reported to give significantly higher yield of maize, ginger, cowpea and Mukhi Kachu in hill slopes.

Moisture Conservation: Mulching is one of the most important cultural techniques for higher production in rain-fed farming systems. Erosion, declining soil fertility, and increased emergence of weeds affect production when fallows are shortened. Mulching will help prevent soil degradation and excessive weed emergence. This technique can be used by farmers growing ginger and taro in hilly areas of this region. The use of mulch safeguards the topsoil against excessive soil temperatures and favors seed germination.

Use contour plantation: The common practice in the Hill Tracts is to plant crops up and down the slopes which facilitate soil erosion with the onset of heavy rains. However, planting should be made along the contours to prevent soil loss.

Use of cover crops and Use of strip cropping: Row crops (erosion permitting crops) such as rice, tobacco, maize etc are not effective as soil conserving crops (erosion resistant crops) such cowpea, black gram, groundnut etc. Using legumes in the existing cropping system will provide better cover and protection to soil by way of minimizing the impact of raindrop erosion and acting as an obstruction to runoff. Cover Crops and strip cropping should be practiced immediately to control erosion.

Crop Rotation and use of balanced fertilizers: Mono-cropping of erosion permitting crops accelerate soil and water loss year after year. Intercropping erosion permitting and erosion resistant crops or their rotation are very effective for soil and water conservation. Erosion resistant crops should be sown in time to develop adequate canopy by the time of peak rate of runoff. Better crop rotation and organic manures should be applied to improve the nutrient status of the soil. Improvement in soil structure improves the rate of infiltration leading to reduced runoff.

Crop diversification: In the face of shrinking natural resources and ever-increasing demand for larger food and agricultural production, agricultural diversification is the best method for future of agriculture. Crop diversification from low value to high value crops; from water loving crop to water saving crop and from single crop to multiple/mixed crop can provide adequate income and employment to the farmers. Such high value crops can overcome problems of transportation and low input use when markets are developed.

Improved Family Nutrition – The widespread occurrence of malnutrition and poor diet leads to shortened lifespan and lower agricultural productivity. By improving the nutrition of the entire family overall community health and productivity will result. The most direct means of improving family nutrition is through community diet education coupled with teaching the skills needed for low cost production of fruits and vegetables in a home garden.

Regeneration with Diversified Flora and Fauna: As the tropical climax hill forests have some unique behaviour, they need special care to re-establish. Absence of eco-partners i.e., the pollinators, recycling agents, food chain producers and consumers etc., the diversity and productivity of the forests have been reduced significantly. It is therefore, essential to re-establish the forests according to habit and habitat of indigenous flora and fauna and in this process the foods for all dwellers including the ethnic tribes can be secured.

Sustainability of the action: There is a natural reluctance among farmers to change their farming systems that have been well adapted for generations. However, as circumstances have changed (population increase, land degradation, etc.) the farming systems have to be changed. Farmers need all the support that science and cooperation can provide, but it must be carefully integrated into the farmers’ environment. Increasing crop production in sustainable ways, introducing erosion control measures or improving the long-term productivity of the land (such as organic manures fertilizers, etc.) involve direct costs or indirect costs, such as that of family labour. It may also be difficult to sustain or small farmers if there are few short-term benefits as the crop response occurs over many years. Therefore, the constraints exerted on families may be considerable, in particular for those living at little above the subsistence level. Only those practices that give a quick, visible difference or significant cash return should be recommended.

Farmers will not pay for inputs unless they are reasonably sure that their produce can be sold at a profit. Nor will they accept conservation measures unless the long-term advantages will accrue to them. However, the transportation to reach the market and infrastructure are very poor in this area. An agricultural marketing specialist should work with farmers, cooperatives, and Gram Panchayats/local administrative bodies to develop access to existing markets.

The long-term sustainability of these measures will depend upon how useful the local communities feel these measures are compatible with their everyday lives. Given the rising prices of agricultural commodities, the economic justification for adopting improved practices will likely remain for a long time. Awareness and capacity building seem to be important measures for helping sustainability. The main threats to the sustainability are population pressure and scarcity of agricultural land. This problem should have to be met primarily by the villagers themselves although external agencies can extend a helping hand.

It is therefore essential to take appropriate measures to make understand the people of the hilly regions of Bangladesh that the diversified flora and fauna are the part and parcel of our life and they are highly important for our climate. We should respect the diversity of the nature, and diversity is the basis for survivility.

Dr Mohammed Ataur Rahman
Director, Centre for Global Environmental Culture (CGEC) and
Program on Education for Sustainability
IUBAT— International University of Business Agriculture and Technology
4 Embankment Drive Road, Uttara Model Town
Sector No. 10, Dhaka-1230
Bangladesh
E-mail: ar_forest@yahoo.com, marahman@feppcar.org
Websites: www.iubat.edu, www.feppcar.org

Bandarban Hill District is one of the most potential resourceful regions of Bangladesh. The hills are not very old but in the vicinity of the Bay of Bengal they receive huge monsoon rainfall and have high water tables. Many indicator plants like wild bananas, terrestrial orchids, ferns, Lycopodiums, Tara and arums are growing luxuriantly even on the hilltops. High hills, rivers and natural lakes and springs are the most attractive places for the tourists. Twelve different tribes including Bengalis of different religions are leaving there peacefully for a long time.

Picture: Sajina (Moringa) Profusely fruited Sajina tree in Bandarban

Among the immense resources, timber trees like Garjan, Telsur, Champa, Black berries, Lali, Chickrassi, Pitraj, Gamar, Pitali, Tali, Civit, Bandarhola, Banspata, Chatim, Kadam, Toon and Haldu etc., bamboos, banana, jackfruit, coconut, guava, papaya, pine apple, bullock heart, wood apple, Sofeda, pomello, pumpkins, cucumber, groundnuts, maize, sweet potato, melons, taro, Cashor alo and spices like ginger, turmeric, chilies, basils and tamarind etc. are important.

Sajina or Drumstick (Moringa) is an exceptionally nutritious vegetable tree crop with a variety of potential uses and it is called ‘Tree of Life’. The leaves are highly nutritious, being a significant source of β-carotene, vitamin C, iron and potassium. The leaves are cooked and used like Shak. Leaves are commonly dried and crushed into powder and used in soups and sauces. The tree is a good source for calcium and phosphorus. Drumstick seeds are used as a sexual virility drug for treating erectile dysfunction in men and also in women for prolonging sexual activity.

Sajina (Moringa) leaves and pods are helpful in increasing breast milk in the breastfeeding months. One tablespoon of leaf powder provides 14% of the protein, 40% of the calcium, 23% of the iron and most of the vitamin A needs of a child aged one to three. Six tablespoons of leaf powder will provide nearly all of the woman’s daily iron and calcium needs during pregnancy and breastfeeding. The bark, sap, roots, leaves, seeds, oil, and flowers are used in traditional Medicare in several countries. The flowers are also cooked and relished as a delicacy in West Bengal and Bangladesh, especially during early spring. There it is called shojne ful and is usually cooked with green peas and potato. Moringa products used for increased energy and vitality, mental and emotional wellbeing, bursting with anti-aging nutrients, healthy blood naturally, organic nutrients for mother, clarity, focus, and concentration, skin and viral diseases etc. Bandarban can be a great producer of Sajina and its high value products.

Locally grown banana

There lies a great opportunity for banana production in Bandarban. Very good quality bananas like Champa, Bangla and Kanchkola etc. are produced with a very low or of no care. Wild bananas are the indicator plants of high water-table and their flowers (Mocha) and the stalk are favorite food. These banana groves are the nice habitats of wild animals, especially the reptiles and amphibians.

Rafting bamboos through the Sango River

Many types of bamboos like Muli, Mirtinga, Talla, Belcoa and Giant Bamboo etc. are grown nicely and help for soil formation, erosion control and keep water-table up; are great resources for income generation, as well as, environmental improvement. Common uses of bamboos are building houses, fence, supports, paper pulp, household utensils, furniture, crafts, mats and also for food.

Bandarban has vast opportunity for Jackfruit production. It is a multipurpose crop gives high value timber highly suitable for furniture and crafts. The fruits and seeds are high-nutrition food and young fruits are used as vegetables. One fruits is enough for supplementing a day’s energy of a person. Jackfruit can be a significant crop for food security.

According to the overall environment, soil, rainfall and humidity and the indicator plants the potential crops are oranges and lemons, coffee, rubber, cashew nut, areca nut, cassava, orchids, camphor, Black pepper, cinnamon and cardamom etc. can successfully be grown in Bangladesh. Mushrooms have also good potentiality.

Honey, pickles, processed fruits, clothes and handicrafts etc. can easily create employment and enhance the income opportunities of Bangladesh.

Luxuriant growth of coconut trees in Bandarban High water-table flora of Bandarban

Since Bandarban has high water-table zones, coconuts can be produced commercially. With the closer view, one can easily observe the growth and production of coconut and areca nuts. Right and appropriate cultivation practices can increase yield several folds. Coconut can also act as windbreaks and help to control erosion. Other palms like Palmyra and Fishtail palms can be grown for fruit, juice, and timber production; for windbreaks and erosion control.

Picture: Dammed water body Climbing plant: Gila

Tree fern and other high water-table flora Running Khoaijiri stream

Once Bandarban was full of natural resources like high humid rainforests with dominated evergreen valuable timber trees, climbers, creepers, wild animals, apes and birds, insects and bees, rivers and streams with fishes and aquatic animals, hundreds of perennials streams and Cherras, springs and water falls, boulders and rocks, pebbles and grabbles, steep slopes and hilltop lakes, and ivories etc. The Sangoo and Matamuhuri are the important rivers those are originated in Bandarban and fall into the Bay of Bengal. But indiscriminate logging, hunting and wrong cultural practices like Jhum, and chemical fertilizer and pesticide dependent agriculture and tillage on the hills and slopes etc. have ruined the biodiversity and landscape of the whole hill tracts regions. However, in some of the places, which are not easily accessible, have nice scenic beauty with remnants of biodiversity. Still, there are some rare plants like Gila, Tree ferns, epiphytic and terrestrial orchids, nuts and palms, canes and many arums and shrubby plants. About 60-100 nos. of wild elephants are roaming in Khoaijiri and Alikhong forest areas.

However, little efforts were made to establish secondary forests with Teak and some other fast growing trees like Gamar, Eucalyptus and Acacias etc. without considering their habit and habitats. Mahogoni, Rain tree and Champa were also planted along the roads but success is very poor. Both Gamar and Teak are deciduous, seldom allow undergrowth in monoculture condition and thus the areas have lost huge biodiversity and the dry season water table consequently many streams have also lost their perennial water flows. The fallen leaves of Teak, Acacias and Eucalyptus have invited great risks of wildfire as they take more than a year for decomposition. Recent tobacco cultivation in the valleys and stream and riversides posed a great threat to biodiversity especially for wide scale uses of chemical pesticides and fertilizers. Many insects pollinators, honey bees and moths and butterflies have lost their habitats; rivers and streams are now have very few on no fishes and other aquatic animals like snails, oyster and crabs etc.

Although Jhum cultivation (shifting cultivation following slash and burning method) has a great negative effect on deterioration of the hill forests but they use to follow mixed cultivation practices using more than 20 different crops in the same land at a time and they never use any chemical pesticides and fertilizers. But from last few years, people have started to grow high yielding crops using chemicals and HYV seeds causing great harm to the environment. Tillage cultivation for ginger, arums and pine apple is also damaging the landscape by erosion.

Picture: Deciduous Teak plantation with no undergrowth Fallen leaves of Acacia may cause wildfire

Picture: Jhum Cultivation with many crops Tillage for arums and rhizomes

Picture: Massive tobacco cultivation Land sliding and erosion

Moreover, in vicinity of the Bandarban hills (Chittagong Hill Tracts) to the Bay of Bengal the coastal habitat is greatly influenced by the hills and hill forests, rainfall, water flows and water quality etc., since most of the Bandarban is within 100 km from the Bay. Polluted water with chemicals and silts influence the coastal and marine environment and their flora and fauna. So, utmost care should be taken during selection of the crops for Bandarban, so that no environmental damage is occurring. Any environmental damage leads to damage of hydrological cycle, fresh water crisis, drying of natural water flows, affect propagation and production of fresh and marine water flora and fauna, erosion and changes of river flows and sea currents.
However, the present district administration has actively been working for the improvement of the lifestyle of the people of Bandarban. The district council has already developed road communication systems, tourism, better security and ecofriendly living environment. The attractive tourist places are Meghla, Nilachal, Shoila Propat, Prantik Lake, Chimbuk, Boga Lake, Rijuk Fall, Keokradong, Tahjingdong, Golden Temple, Nilgiri, Mirinja, and Upabon etc. Several beautiful sculptures are also under construction. It is essential to give importance on the protection of traditional cultures and practices of different tribes. We must not be over enthusiastic to change the natural environment of the hill tracts in the name of development without thinking its sustainability and long-term effects. We should respect the natural laws and must not destroy the indigenous vegetation for short-term benefit rather the huge resources should be managed protecting the diverse environment utilizing the ecosystem services by planting right plant (crop) at right place.

Note: Dr Mohammed Ataur Rahman has been working on biodiversity, landscape management and sustainable upland & hill agriculture in Bnadarban since December 2008.

Mohammed Ataur Rahman PhD, M.Sc., DIC

Date: January 27, 2011
Venue: IUBAT Conference Hall, Uttara, Dhaka, Bangladesh

SUMMARY
Agriculture needs a significant transformation to meet the challenges of achieving climate change adaptation and food security. Based on population growth and consumption patterns, projections indicate that agricultural production will have to increase at least 70% to meet the demands by 2050. Estimation indicates that climate change is likely to reduce agricultural productivity, production stability and incomes in some areas that already have high levels of food insecurity. Thus, development of sustainable agriculture is crucial to achieve future goals on climate change and food security. Agricultural productivity varies on climatic regions; therefore, knowledge about management of landscape, habit and habitats of plants and animals are the critical factors for adaptation and sustainable agriculture. This paper investigates into some of the key scientific and technical responses and ecosystem services required to have sustainable agriculture. Biodiversity is the root of plenty and provides greater scope for agriculture in the quickly changed climatic conditions. This paper outlines a range of practices, approaches and tools aimed at increasing the resilience and productivity of agricultural production systems, while also reflects light on reducing and removing emissions. It also considers current scientific knowledge and financial gaps and makes innovative suggestions regarding the combined use of different sources and dissemination of appropriate knowledge of adaptations to cope with the climate change.

Agriculture

Agriculture is the science and art of producing crops and animals under supervision of humans in a specific location. It is the practice by which people began to grow plants on purpose and domestic animals from the start of colonization and civilization of the ancient humans survived by hunting animals, fishing and gathering plants for food, termed “hunter-gatherers”. Views of agricultural origins are diverse, ranging from mythological to ecological; prompted humans to purposely raise their plants or domesticate the animals, was an evolutionary process that eventually transformed plants from being independent, wild progenitors, to fully dependent and domesticated cultivars, with concomitant economies. According to the theory of “Domestication by Crowding” or “The Propinquity Theory” of Gordon Childe suggests that wild animals and for that matter plants were forced into closer cohabitation when advancing dry climatic conditions pushed humans and animals into more habitable areas such as the banks of perennial rivers (Acquaah 2002).

Humans and other animals require energy, amino acids, hormones, vitamins and minerals for growth and development. The energy of sun is harnessed by plants which are used as food and fuel and crop plants are major sources of food, feed, oil, fiber and medicine for modern societies. The 30 most important crops in the world include cereals, roots, fruits, vegetables, legumes and corms and yams are widely distributed in the phyto-geographic areas are: wheat, rice, corn, potato, barley, sweet potato, cassava, grapes, soybean, oats, sorghum, sugarcane, millets, banana, tomato, sugar beet, rye, oranges, coconut, cottonseed oil, apples, yam, peanut, watermelon, cabbage, onion, beans, peas, sunflower and mango (Harlan 1976).

Crop production

Crop production is a complex operation. Its success depends on both the crops themselves and environmental factors, coupled with socioeconomic and political factors. The art of production has involved over the ages, taking on the sophistication of the day. People learnt to understand the life-cycle, adaptation, and the distribution of plants to be able to anticipate and locate their abundant sites. Crop producers in primitive cultures selected specific crops, specific varieties and prepared the land prior to planting. They planted in the right season, protected the crop from pests and adopted techniques to increase productivity. These artistic values are perpetuated in modern agriculture but at improved levels. Farmers still exchange ideas and experiences and have access to improved cultivars and agronomic practices and better harvesting and storage facilities. As technology advanced, some of the labor in production was transferred to draft animals that were used in various ways, including transportation and tillage. The development and use of machines has further reduced the need for labor. An individual using a variety of machines and implements can single-handedly operate a large farm. Technology-based mechanical innovations; chemical, biological, cultural and general knowledge and expertise are involved for management of crops.

A crop is a man-made culture involving biological and non-biological activities which was a human’s first biased act on the virgin earth. Crops play a very significant role in changing the environment. Crops allow man to meet his day-to-day needs from a limited source, utilizing merit, labor and natural resources to ensure a continuous supply by regenerating as per choice and requirement. They may be for their direct, indirect, primary, secondary and tertiary purposes, e.g. food, fodder, cash crops, medicinal, fiber, forest, agriculture, horticulture, aquatic and marine crops etc.

The word CROP can be analyzed as follows:

‘C’ for Colonization, Civilization, Culture and Cultivation
‘R’ for Regeneration, Re-growth, and Recycling
‘O’ for Organism, Organization, Operation, and Optimization
‘P’ for Production, Processing, Preservation, and Programming

Populations naturally increase and colonize under suitable conditions depending on the adaptability and availability of food and shelter. As the size of the population increases, the zone of exploitation grows or they migrate to other places. Nomadic life passed in the early ages through exploitation and migration. With the beginning of civilization, men first started to culture and grow their desired plants while suppressing or eliminating undesired ones from their surrounding environment (Rahman, 2004).

Unlike other organisms, man has special demand and better adaptability since they possess wisdom and is superior to other. Therefore, all creation of the universe is meant for the goodness of the mankind. Thus man started cultivation of their required things, the crops.

Alphonse de Candolle and Vavilov theorized the origin of cultivated plants by analyzing the variations and genetic diversity and Vavilov proposed 8 “Centers of Origin” of the most cultivated plants in 1926. On the basis of cosmopolitan nature and huge diversity of the plants and animals form agriculture, enabled farming systems to evolve about 10,000 years ago in Mesopotamia, New Guinea, China, Mesoamerica and the Andes.

Crop Productivity

Harnessed solar energy converts into chemical energy during photosynthesis by the plants taking CO2 from air and water from the soil. Although carbohydrate is the primary product but it is converted into other forms of carbohydrates, oils, proteins, vitamins, hormones and steroids etc., up-taking other necessary available nutrients from the soil. The overall energy absorption and biomass production depend on the absorptive spectrum of visible light, 380 to 760nm, availability of soil nutrients and capability of absorption through heredity environment adaptive mechanism.

The productivity of biomass depends on the climatic components and interaction of ecosystem services viz. light, temperature, humidity, precipitation and soil ingredients. It varies in different climatic zones; tropical monsoon and Mediterranean climatic regions are the most productive and have the highest biodiversity in the world. This is due to two distinct dry and wet phases and moderate weather condition which help formation of favorable environment for lives especially with fertile soil, and recycling of biomass, biological and a-biological and hydro-meteorological cycles.

Adaptation to climatic conditions and ecosystem services

Morphological, physiological and reproductive adaptations are developed according to climatic and other environmental factors. Countless species contribute to the essential ecological functions upon which agriculture depends, including soil services and water cycling. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA)-2005, served to emphasize that the health and well-being of humans and other species across the planet depends on a variety of ecosystem goods and services. The services include:
• Provisioning services: food, fiber, fuel, biochemical, genetic resources, and fresh water
• Regulating services: flood, pest control, pollination, seed dispersal, erosion regulation, water purification, and climate and disease control
• Cultural services: Spiritual and religious values, knowledge systems, education and inspiration, and recreational and aesthetic values; and
• Supporting services: Primary production, nutrient cycling, provision of habitat, production of atmospheric oxygen, and water cycling.

Ecosystem services to agriculture include:
• Regulation of pests and diseases
• Nutrient cycling: decomposition of organic matter
• Nutrient sequestration and conversion e.g. N-fixing bacteria
• Regulating soil organic matter and soil water retention
• Maintenance of soil fertility and biota, and
• Pollination by bees and wildlife

Soil and ground habitat:
• Soil compositions: Minerals, air, water, organic matters and microbes and lives viz. bacteria, fungi, protozoa, mites, worms, ants, spiders etc.
• A teaspoonful grassland soil contains 6-8 million bacteria, 12,000 species of protozoa and a million fungi and many other microbial floras which are directly involved in soil environmental activity.
• Diverse habitat, soil organism provides essential services toward sustainable functioning of all ecosystems for sustainable management of agriculture
(www.fao.org/landandwater)

Climate change and consequences of agriculture

Climate change threatens production’s stability and productivity. In many areas of the world where agricultural productivity is low and the means of coping with adverse events are limited, climate change is expected to reduce productivity to even lower levels and make production to more erratic (Stern Review 2006; Cline 2007; Fisher et al. 2002; IPCC 2007). Long-term changes in the patterns of temperature and precipitation, that are part of climate change, are expected to shift production seasons, pest and disease patterns, and modify the set of feasible crops affecting production, prices incomes and ultimately, livelihoods and lives. Despite the fundamental importance of biodiversity and ecosystem services to the earth’s functioning and to human society, human activities are driving force for the loss of biodiversity at an unprecedented rate, up to 1000 times of the natural rate of species loss, and despite the specific importance of crop and livestock diversity, and of associated agricultural biodiversity, advances in agricultural production over recent decades have been achieved largely without major regard to the destruction of biodiversity. Climate change has become a major driver of biodiversity loss as well as a serious challenge to agriculture, whose response, to adapt, will draw upon the genetic diversity of crops and livestock and the services provided by other components of agricultural diversity.

Climate is the most important environmental factor affecting agricultural production and is also now significantly influenced by agriculture. About 24% of the earth’s land surface is covered by cultivated systems and the cumulative impact of worldwide agricultural practices on the global climate is significant. Global agriculture is estimated to account for about 20% of the total anthropogenic emissions of GHG (UNEP-2009). The most important categories of agricultural emissions are:
1. Increasing land under cultivation by decreasing sinks, including deforestation and the conversion of wetlands, specially peat lands
2. Carbon dioxide emissions from burning forest, crop residues, and land
3. Methane emissions from rice cultivation
4. Methane emissions from ruminant livestock such as cattle
5. Use of nitrogen fertilizers that release Nitrous oxide, and
6. Carbon dioxide emissions from farm machinery, facilities, processing and transport
Climate change poses a serious challenge to agriculture and is expected to affect agricultural activities through a number of factors, including:
• Changes in water availability
• Increased exposure to heat stress
• Changes in destruction of agricultural pests and diseases
• Greater leaching of nutrients from the soil during intense rain
• Greater soil erosion due to stronger wind and rainfall
• Frequent wildfires in dry regions
• Increased flooding and tidal surges
• Increased droughts
• Intrusion of salinity
• Increased cyclonic storms and hailstorms
Against the backdrop of a declining natural resource base and environmental change, food production in the coming decades will need to increase. Genetic diversity within crop and livestock species will be an invaluable resource to enable adaptation to changing conditions through breeding and bringing more species under cropping culture.

Preserving and enhancing food security requires agricultural production system to change in the direction of higher productivity and also, essentially, lower out variability in the face of climate risk and risks of an agro-ecological and socio-economic nature. In order to stabilize output and income, production systems must become more resilient, i.e. more capable of performing well in the face of disruptive events. More productive and resilient agriculture require transformations in the management of natural resource (e.g. land, water, soil nutrient, and genetic resources) and higher efficiency in use of these resources and inputs for production. Transitioning to such systems could also generate significant mitigation benefits by increasing carbon sinks, as well as reducing emissions per unit of agricultural product.

Transition of agriculture

Transformations are needed in both commercial and subsistence agricultural systems, but with significant differences in priorities and capacity. In commercial systems, increasing efficiency and reducing emissions, as well as other negative environmental impacts, are key concerns. In agriculture-based countries, where agriculture is critical for economic development (World Bank 2000), transforming smallholder systems is not only important for food security but also for poverty reduction, as well as for aggregate growth and structural change. Achieving the needed levels of growth, but on a lower emissions trajectory will require a concerted effort to maximize synergies and minimize tradeoff between productivity and mitigation.

Considerations for climate-smart production systems involve production, processing and marketing of agricultural goods are central to food security and economic growth. Products derived from plants and animals include foods (e.g. cereals, vegetables, fruits, fish and meat), fibers (e.g. cotton, wool, jute, hemp and silk), fuels (e.g. dung, charcoal, bio-fuels from crops and residues) and other raw materials (including building materials, medicines, resins etc.). Production has been achieved through a number of production systems which range from smallholder mixed cropping and livestock systems to intensive farming practices e.g. large monocultures and intensive livestock rearing. The sustainable intensification of production, especially in developing countries, can ensure food security and contribute to mitigate climate change by reducing deforestation and the encroachment of agriculture into natural ecosystems (Bellassen 2010; FAO 2010).

Other key issues are access to markets, inputs, knowledge, finances and issue related to landtenure are also fundamental for ensuring food security. Soil and nutrient management the availability of nitrogen and other nutrients are essential to increase yields which can be done through composting manure and crop residues, more precise matching of nutrients with plant needs, controlled release and deep placement technologies or using legumes for natural nitrogen fixation. Using methods and practices that increase organic nutrient inputs, retention and use are therefore, fundamental and reduces the need of synthetic fertilizers which, due cost and access, are often unavailable to smallholders and, through their production and transport, contribute to GHG emissions.

Water harvesting and use are fundamental for increasing production and addressing increasing irregularity of rainfall patterns. Today, irrigation is practiced on 20% of the agricultural lands in developing countries but can generate 130% more yields than rain-fed system. The expansion of efficient management technologies and methods, specially those relevant to smallholders, is fundamental (FAO 2010). But huge water is being misused during dry season irrigation and ground water-table often goes down that creates water crisis for drinking as well as domestic purposes.

The incidences of pest and disease are altering the distribution, occurrence and intensity of plant pest and diseases as well as invasive alien species due to climate change. The recent emergence in several regions of multi-virulent, aggressive strains of wheat yellow rust adapted to high temperatures is a good indication of the risks associated with pathogen-adaptation to climate change.

Resilient ecosystem

Improving ecosystem management and biodiversity can provide a number of ecosystem services, which can lead to more resilient, productive and sustainable systems that may also contribute to reducing or removing greenhouse gases.
Services include, control of pests and disease, regulation of microclimate, decomposition of wastes, regulating nutrient cycles and crop pollination. Enabling and enhancing the provision of such services can be achieved through the adoption of different natural resource management and production practices.

Genetic resources

Genetic make-up determines a plants and animals tolerance to shocks such as temperature extremes, drought, flooding and pests and diseases. It also regulates the length of growing season/production cycle and the response to inputs such as fertilizer, water and feed. The preservation of genetic resources of crops and breeds and their wild relatives is therefore fundamental in developing resilience to shocks, improving the efficient use to resources, shortening production cycles and generating higher yields (quality and nutritional content) per area of land. Generating varieties and breeds which are tailored to ecosystems and the needs of farmers is crucial.

Harvesting, processing and supply chains

Efficient harvesting and early transformation of agricultural produce can reduce post-harvest losses (PHL) and preserve food quantity, quality and nutritional value of the product. It also ensures better use of co-products and by-products, either as feed for livestock, to produce renewable energy in integrated systems or to improve soil fertility. As supply chains become longer more complex, it becomes evermore important to increase the operational efficiency of processing, packaging, storage, transport etc, to ensure increased shelf life, retain quality and reduce carbon footprints. Food processing allows surplus to be stored for low production years or allows a staggered sale. This ensures greater availability of food and income through out the season and in years of low production. Food processing creates jobs and income opportunities, especially for women.

Achievements and constraints

Modern technologies and advances in the agriculture sector, such as inorganic fertilizers, pesticides, feeds, supplements, high yielding varieties, and land management and irrigation techniques have considerably increased production. This has been fundamental in meeting the food needs of a growing population and in generating economic growth needed for poverty reduction. However, in certain circumstances these practices and techniques have caused ecological damage, degradation of soils, unsustainable use of resources; outbreak of pests and diseases and have caused health problems to both livestock and humans. Such unsustainable practices have resulted in lower yields, degraded or depleted natural resources and have been a driver of agriculture’s encroachment into important natural ecological areas e.g. forests. The quest to increase yields and to do this without expanding the amount of land under cultivation has often heightened the vulnerability of production systems to shocks e.g. outbreaks of pests and diseases, droughts and floods and changing climate patterns. In addition, there are many production systems in developing countries that due to a lack of finance, resources, knowledge and capacity are well below the potential yield that could be achieved.

Existing systems, practices and methods suitable for climate-smart agriculture

There are several challenges in transitioning to high production, intensified, resilient, sustainable, and low-emission agriculture. However, careful selection of production systems, adoption of appropriate methods and practices and use of suitable varieties and breeds, can allow considerable improvements to be made. There are numerous FAO resources, guidelines, tools, technologies and other applications to assist policy makers, extension workers and farmers in selecting the most appropriate production systems, undertaking land use and resource assessments, evaluating vulnerability and undertaking impact assessments. Recently, FAO has developed a carbon-balance tool (EX-ACT) to appraise mitigation impact of newly proposed food security, agriculture policies and projects (FAO-2010).

However, there are considerable knowledge gaps relating to the suitability and use of these production systems and practices across a wide variety of agro-ecological and socio-economic contexts and scales. There is even less knowledge on the suitability of different systems under varying future climate change scenarios and other biotic and a-biotic stresses.

Crops: Rice production systems
Rice is fundamental for food security with approximately 3 billion people, about half of the world population, consume rice everyday. It is the staple food in many countries and 144 million ha land is cultivated under rice each year. But waterlogged rice production system, especially manuring with chemical fertilizers, emits a large volume of methane, an important GHG. Irregular rainfall, drier spells in the wet season, drought and floods are all having an effect on yields. Outbreaks of pests and diseases, with large losses of crops and harvested products up to 20% (Peng et al. 2004), have also profound effects.

Management of soil fertility

Management of soil fertility and organic matter, and improvement of the efficiency of nutrient inputs, enable more to be produced with proportionally less fertilizers and saves energy but sequesters carbon in soil. Permaculture, crop rotation, no-tillage and mulch management, short cycle biomass recycling have great importance on specific environments to ensure nutrient loss in intense cropping culture.

Urban and Peri-urban agriculture

About 50% of the world populations now live in cities and this will rise to 70% by 2050 which will cause the encroachment of the city into surrounding natural ecosystems and agricultural lands. Foods and other essentials are coming from the country sides to feed the city population. The wastes produced by the city people are huge, 80% of which are agricultural green garbage. These wastes are valuable nutrients and should be utilized through recycling, although in the developing countries like Bangladesh these valuable resources are not well-managed and usually dumped for land-filling. Therefore, utilization of these huge green wastes can produce necessary food crops for the urban people through kitchen garden, roof top garden, roadside plantation crops, peri-urban gardening etc. for recycling the biomass and food production.

Biodiversity and agriculture

Biodiversity and agriculture highlights the importance of sustainable agriculture to preserve biodiversity to feed the world, sustainable agricultural livelihoods and enhance human well-being, now and in future. The need for adaptation and potential improvement in productivity provides an incentive for the conservation of a diverse range of genetic resources. Biodiversity manage ecosystem services to contribute substantially for wider functioning: maintenance of water quality, waste removal, reducing runoff, and promoting water infiltration, soil moisture retention, erosion control, carbon sequestration and pollination. Biodiversity provides more scope for crop diversity also contributes towards quality of nutrition which improves with the consumption of greater food diversity, particularly in fruits, and vegetables. Diverse diets can contribute to the fight against malnutrition, obesity and other health problems in both developing and developed countries (Convention on Biological Diversity 2008).

References:
1. Acquaah, G. 2002: Principles of Crop Production, Theory, Techniques and Technology, Prentice-Hall of India Private Limited New Delhi, 2002
2. Bellassen,V., Manlay, R.J., Chery, J.P., Gitz, V, Toure, A., Bernoux, M and Chotte, J.L 2010: Multicriteria specialization of soil organic carbon sequestration potential from agricultural intensification in Senegal. Climate Change Vol. 98, No. 1-2, pp 213-243.
3. Cline, W.R., 2007: Global Warming and Agriculture: Impact Estimates by country, Center for Global Development, Peterson Institute for Int. Economics
4. Convention on Biological Diversity 2008, Biodiversity and Agriculture, International Day for Biological Diversity, World Trade Centre, USA
5. FAO-2010: Climate-Smart Agriculture: Policies Practices and Financing for Food Security, Adaptation and Mitigation; The Conference on Agriculture, Food Security and on line pharmacy Climate Change, October 31-November 5, 2010, Rome, Italy
6. Fischer, G., Shah, M., van Velthuizen, H. 2002: Climate Change and Agricultural Vulnerability, In Contribution to the World Summit on Sustainable Development, Johannesburg, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IAASA), Laxenburg
7. Harlan, JR, 1976: Plant and animals that nourished man In Food and Agriculture-A Scientific American Book by WH Freeman and Company San Francisco, USA
8. IPCC-2007: Contribution of Working Group II; to the Fourth Assessment Report of the IPCC.
9. Peng, S., Huang, J., Sheehy, JE., Laza, R.C., Visperas, R.M., Zhong, X., Centeno, G.S., Khush, G.S. and Cassman, K.G. 2004: Rice yield declines with higher night temperature from global warming. PNAS, July 6, 2004 Vol. 101 No. 27 9971 9975.
10. Rahman, MA, 2004: Plantation Crops and Organic Farming; Research Articles Series: 1, Touhid Publishers, Dhaka, Bangladesh
11. Stern, N 2006, Stern Review on Economics of Climate Change. HM Treasury, London
12. UNEP-2009; Annual Report United Nations Environment Programme.

Presented by:

Mohammed Ataur Rahman PhD, M.Sc., DIC
Director
Centre for Global Environmental Culture (CGEC)
IUBAT—International University of Business Agriculture and Technology
4 Embankment Drive Road, Sector No. 10, Dhaka -1230
Bangladesh
Email: ar_forest@yahoo.com, www.iubat.edu

Anyway, sacrificing animals provide a great opportunity for having rich food by the people, especially to the poor as one-third Buy Xenical Online of the meat has to distribute to them and another one-third to the relatives and neighbors. Eid-ul-Azha is the option for farming cows and goats in large scale, creating opportunity for earnings and self-employment especially in the rural areas. In the cities, there was better management of animal Haats and tool collection, and people were very happy this year. Kurbani Haats used to start from 7 to 8 days before the Eid day and it reaches at its climax in 2-3 days of Eid.

Refuses originate from the starting of the movement of animals: cows, goats, sheep, buffaloes and camels etc. with their feeds from the remote areas which may take 2-3 days’ journey to reach the city centers through traders’ chain and transports. On an average, a cow need 30-40 kg hay, green leaves, bran, and about 40-50 liter water. Extra water also needs for cleaning or washing them in the market. The wastes are: dung, urine, contaminated fodders and straws, remaining of leaves or branches etc. The big markets were in Gabtali, Sutrapur, Newmarket, Gulshan, Baridhara, Tongi, Uttara, Azampur, Rampore, Malibag, Wari, Postagola, Motijheel, Jatrabari and Lalbag etc., where huge quantity of garbage were left here and there.

On an average for a cow, the refuses may be 20 kg only in the market site.

After sacrificing, removing the skin, meat is distributed and the hoofs, horns, skull and jaws are left. Stomach or ruminal pouches and blood etc. used to bury in soil or discharge in the drains or water-bodies. Some recovery may be made from the linings of the stomach or gut. From a medium-sized cow of 200 kg, we get the followings:

Blood 5 Kg
Hide-skin: 30 Kg
Flesh/meat 40 Kg
Meat with bone 50 Kg
Horn/hoofs/Skull/Jaws 30 Kg
Dis-chargeable and water 45 Kg

Hide-skin is sold and processed in the tannery; hoofs, horns and bones etc. are also collected by the street urchins and they sell at Tk 20-25 per kg to the vendors. Bones, hoofs and horns are important raw materials for manure, bone meals, medicine, crafts, flutes, combs, gelatin and any other purposes but their industrial and business accountability is in dark. Bones and horns are the great sources of calcium and phosphorus. Green garbage like stomachic discharges, dung and blood can be used economically after proper recycling. Blood is an important source of nitrogen fertilizer, contains 12% N.

From the above, a 200 kg cow leaves (20+50) kg recyclable refuses. From a simple calculation, it reveals that, about 70,000 tons of green refuses can produce minimum 14,000 tons organic fertilizer from 1 million sacrificed cows only in Dhaka city, which may worth about Tk 28 million ( 2.8 Crore) estimating Tk. 2 per kg fertilizer. For agriculture, we need a large quantity of fertilizers and importing at the cost of foreign currency. But the city dwellers are wasting valuable green garbage just by discharging into then into the drains or water-bodies or for landfills. Can we ever imagine about these refuses which are the valuable biomass-nutrients coming from the rural areas? Rural land is losing nutrients and becoming infertile and less productive while here in the cities these high-value nutrients are dumping, and causing serious air and water pollution in the cities. It is not only in the Eid but everyday thousands of cows, goats, chicken and other animals are being slaughtered; the refuses are being dumped, who cares for the quantity, value, and environmental degradation?

It is of course manageable, it needs only proper planning and awareness.
• There must be specific rules for cleaning the Haats
• Community or locality-based slaughter centers should be organized; traditionally in many villages still this system exists
• All green garbage must be cleaned within 12 hours of slaughtering
• No blood should be allowed for burying or draining into the drains or water-bodies
• No biomass (straws, grasses, leaves or branches etc.) should be used or dumped for landfill but accelerated decomposition should be done for organic manure production
• Since biomass is the nutrients, they must go back to their origin for increasing the fertility of the soil.
• Collection, processing and usages of bones, horns, hoofs and teeth etc. must be accounted since these are high value substrates for many products.
• National policy for animal-waste processing for hide-skin, fur, feathers, bones, horns, hoofs, teeth and decomposable substances; their use, recycling, reprocessing and secondary utilization should be brought under the National Code and Practices.

Dr Mohammed Ataur Rahman
Director, Centre for Global Environmental Culture
International University of Business Agriculture and Technology
Dhaka-1230 Email: ar_forest@yahoo.com
November 21, 2010

At last it has come to the notice that “Nearly 500 trees have died in the Bashundhara residential area, 20 around the Baridhara Lake, 25 near the Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University and ten more at the Farmgate Park”.

What about the others in Uttara, Ashulia and other part of the city?
Thousands of rain-trees, acacias died in many areas of the city nobody raised the question of such dying of plants. In 2003-2005, many big rain-trees died in Chittagong (Polo-ground and CRB etc.). Some Nageshwars and Acaias died in Cantonment area. Thousands of Sissoo died after 1988 floods throughout Bangladesh especially along the roadsides of floodplains. Who cares for them?

Now is it the death of the trees in the posh areas? If a tree is being cut for a particular reason, our so-called environmentalists used to become vocal against such cutting even it is for development or to remove for disease.

My question is who are the advisers of planting the trees defying their habitats? Is it Forest Department? City Corporation? Local people?

Rain-trees were planted in late Nineteen centuries in Mymensingh, Gouripur, Shambhuganj and Tea gardens but they are still surviving. The Big Rain-tree of Amail Tea estate (about 35 ft girth) and also some in Satgaon are growing well. Then it is easily understandable that the city weather is highly polluted and acid rain is the cause. Should the Department of Environment have any data about air quality of Dhaka and Chittagong cities? The industrial pollutants especially from the brick kilns around the cities are emitting sulphur dioxide and other poisonous gases are polluting the air causing harms to the trees and they are dying. Are the pollutants causing harm only to the speechless trees? Of course the inhabitants of the cities; hundreds and thousands are suffering from bronchial diseases, headache, and lung cancer etc. Where is the civil sense? The government should take immediate action against such pollution causing industries.

Indiscriminate plantations without respecting the habit and habitats or natural laws are causing huge damage of wealth every year. Sissoo plants can not tolerate water-logging even for short duration then why people are being advised for planting them along the roadside where they can suffer from water-logging? It is only for easy growing and showing success.
Since the wet season water-table of the cities are rising due to poor drainage system some deep rooted plants like Nageshwar and Acacia are dying. Some trees like Champa, Gamar and Chapalish etc. need association of other plants; in isolation they can not grow well but still certain institutions are spending huge money planting them here and there along the road side or avenue.

Perhaps you can remember that more than 1000 Thuja plants were planted under the flyover bridge at Mohakhali although those plants are highly sun-loving but now they are again replaced with Jhiri bot (Ficus sp.). Why did they not consider the habit and habitat of Thuja? Was it not a waste of public money?

Again, even the rural farmers know the plant to plant distance of coconut (minimum 20 feet), but you can see along the highway near Cantonment and Nikunja the spacing of coconut is only 8-10 feet but why? Are the coconut plants for ornamental, windbreaks or fruiting? If ornamental I have nothing to say but for windbreaks and fruiting it needs spacing 20 to 30 feet. You can also observe trees under the high tension lines, often pollarding by the PDB men, then why such plantings are done in the name of Save the environment? Why do they not maintain the safe distances from the structures, roads and highways and transmission lines?

Poor villagers are also been misguided by some agencies and planting Mahogany, Rain-tree, Acacia, Raj-korai (Albizzia richardiana) and Eucalyptus etc. in the rural homes to get short-term benefit leaving traditionally growing eco-friendly trees like Mango, Jackfruit, Blackberry, Kadam, Palmyra palm, Areca palm, Coconut and Ebony etc. Acacia and Eucalyptus are fast growing but their fallen leaves are not easy decomposable and do not allow undergrowth. The large canopy of Rain-tree shades huge area and disturbs growing of other homestead crops. Sometimes it becomes the reason of quarreling among the neighbors. Certainly the timber value of Mahogany is not superior to Jackfruit but Jackfruit gives additional fruit crop which can add food energy to our hungry people.

Indiscriminate plantation of some exotic trees caused huge damage during the strong winds of cyclones like Sidr and Aila. Uprooted and broken trees damaged houses, constructions and disrupted power transmission lines etc.

So, it needs to clarify by the responsible institutions to what extent are they maintaining our safety? Why are not be responsible/answerable for such damages. Again if some one claims as environmentalist, I ask him why he will not be answerable for planting trees in a place which is not suitable for that plant. Of course, plantation without considering plants’ habit and habitat is a punishable act and waste of public money. We must consider our environment first and it should be of national interest. So-called environmentalists cheap prescription drugs should respect the habit and habitats and laws of the nature. They should learn from the nature before claiming a naturalist or environmentalist. We should grow plants/trees according to their habit and habitat. Plant should be a crop for mankind, for environment and for utilization.

Again, let plant right trees at right place according to their habit and habitat.

Dr Mohammed Ataur Rahman
Director, Centre for Global Environmental Culture
IUBAT—International University of Business Agriculture and Technology
Dhaka 1230 Website www.iubat.edu
Date: November 14, 2010