Bangladesh Agriculture & Food Security: Crop intensification

The farmers of Southern Bangladesh usually cultivate rice in the Monsoon (Aman) season. Some farmers also cultivate rice in the Pre-monsoon (Aus) season in some parts of the coastal region. In both cases, a majority cultivates low-yielding traditional rice varieties using low levels of inputs. Cultivation during the winter (Boro/Rabi) season is not common in this region.

To rehabilitate the victims of Cyclone SIDR, BRAC introduced hybrid rice in winter (Boro/Rabi) season in the coastal area for the first time. The farmers cultivated this rice using tidal river water. Additionally, BRAC has implemented high yielding variety (HYV) and hybrid rice cultivation in pre-monsoon (Aus) and monsoon (Aman) seasons in traditional single-crop areas. Compared to traditional practices, the implementation showed an increase in productivity of nearly three times and profitability gains of nearly four times original levels.

BRAC introduced maize, sunflower, and other vegetables as new crops in areas with limited non-saline water as part of the rehabilitation of SIDR victims. Participating farmers saw large profitability of these practices and with them BRAC demonstrated year round cropping in the untapped coastal regions instead of the traditional single rice.

Based on the lessons learned, BRAC is continuing the adaptive research and demonstration to develop area specific cropping patterns, incorporating new knowledge for the coastal regions of Bangladesh.