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KHULNA, Bangladesh — As storms have flooded the village of
Chandipur with seawater, the soil there has become increasingly
salty. As a result, farmland throughout the village has been
ruined, and growing crops has become harder.
Chandipur is a village in southwestern Bangladesh and is
regularly hit with extreme weather and flooding. The situation
became particularly bad after Cyclone Aila in 2009, which
brought storm surges that broke embankments and flooded
farmland. After 2009, vegetable crops planted in the ground in
Chandipur yielded only meager returns. Some failed completely.
For the past three years, however, hundreds of villagers have
managed to grow crops in "vertical gardens." Vertical gardens
consist of a variety of containers in backyards and on rooftops,
packed with soil and crops. Vertical gardens can produce a lot of
vegetables while taking up very little space. Also, they are
protected from the harmful effects of flooding. They let farmers
continue to cultivate vegetables despite the damage done to
farmland.
Shakuri Rani Debnath, a resident of Chandipur in her 30s, says
her vertical gardens generated nearly 440 pounds of fruits and
vegetables this summer. These included pumpkins, squash,
cauliflower, tomatoes, spinach and chili peppers.
Tough To Grow
Bangladesh is located at the delta of three of Asia's largest rivers,
and most of the country is at or below sea level. Consequently,
Bangladesh is prone to flooding and water-logging. The country
experiences extreme weather, only made worse by climate
change.
Rising sea levels and violent storms cause frequent flooding, and
flooding brings salty water onto dry land. The salt then soaks into
the soil, making it difficult to grow crops. The problem has been
particularly severe in coastal areas along the surrounding rivers.
The loss of usable land is a pressing concern in Bangladesh, one
of the world’s most densely populated countries. There are about
156 million people in Bangladesh, almost half the population of
the United States. Yet the people of Bangladesh live in an area
about the size of Iowa. Growing enough food for all of those
people is already a challenge in such a small country. It is made
harder by the loss of land due to flooding. Moreover,
Bangladesh’s population will likely increase from some 156
million today to around 250 million by 2050, making the situation
even more dire. Vertical gardens are a simple way that the poor
can increase their food supply.
Climate Change Spawns Alternative Gardening
“There is no country with such population density where natural
resources are stretched to their very limits,” says Craig Meisner,
the country director for Bangladesh at WorldFish, an international
nonprofit organization headquartered in Malaysia. WorldFish has
been building vertical gardens in southern Bangladesh, along
with other means of coping with climate change.
Vertical gardens protect soil from being soaked with floodwater
and becoming too salty as a result. So far, WorldFish is
implementing vertical gardens only in Bangladesh, although
examples of similar, local designs exist in other parts of the
world. In theory, vertical gardens can work in salty soil in any area
that gets heavy rainfall.
Working with local nonprofits, WorldFish trained about 200
villagers in four districts in southwestern Bangladesh to make
vertical gardens. Others have copied their neighbors’ designs
after seeing how well they worked. WorldFish plans to expand
the program to include 5,000 people over the next two years.
Harvest Soil, Fertilize And Grow
Growing the vertical gardens is relatively straightforward.
Villagers harvest soil around November, and use it later during
planting season. At this time of year, soil tends to be less salty
because heavy rains from July to October wash salt away.
Villagers then put the soil into containers and mix it with fertilizer.
To prevent water-logging, the containers are raised off the ground
on bricks. They are also filled with brick chips that improve water
circulation and drainage.
Small holes are cut into the sides where short-rooted vegetables
such as Indian spinach and tomatoes can grow. Long-rooted
vegetables such as gourds grow on top.
Small containers, which cost about $1.30 to $2.00 to build, can
produce up to 17 1/2 pounds of vegetables in one season. Larger
containers can produce more than 220 pounds of vegetables, at
a cost of around $11.50 to $13.00 for materials and seeds.
WorldFish provides seeds and some materials to villagers in the
first year.
Fresh Garden Variety
Shobitha Debna, a 35-year-old mother in Chandipur, has a
vertical garden that occupies just a corner of her dirt yard.
Nevertheless, each season it produces hundreds of pounds of
pumpkins, gourds, green beans, eggplant, beets, carrots,
cauliflower, coriander, cabbage, green chili peppers and spinach.
Another garden on her roof grows fat bottle gourds. The gourds
grow from a few large, plastic containers that once held animal
feed.
Vertical gardens like Debna's produce a lot of extra food, which
goes a long way for the rural poor in Bangladesh, who eke out a
living on a few dollars a day.
Debna says she used to grow just one or two kinds of
vegetables, but now her vertical gardens grow a large variety.
Finding enough fresh water for her new gardens is a challenge,
she admits. Still, she is able to grow crops with soil that, not long
ago, was too salty to be of any use.
Please write your thoughts on this article. I would love it if you gave your full thoughts on this article. Thank you!! :)
Let's start with YOUR ideas about this article.
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Your teacher does not want to know MY thoughts, he/she wants to know yours. No one can write your thoughts for you. You are trying to get something you can plagiarize.
I thought it an extremely interesting article but wished it contained more details of garden construction. It was also somewhat disjointed and repetitive.
I saw this same content in a post yesterday, but I was immediately turned off.
The phrasing "I would love it" immediately translated to "do my work for me" in my mind.
Do your own writing. Edit and proof it at least twice. Then post it here if you want feedback from one of our tutors.
This article highlights the challenges faced by farmers in the village of Chandipur in Bangladesh due to rising sea levels, flooding, and salinization of their farmland. It introduces the concept of vertical gardens as a solution to these problems. Vertical gardens, consisting of containers filled with soil and crops, allow farmers to continue cultivating vegetables even when their farmland is damaged by flooding or high salinity. The article also mentions the efforts of organizations like WorldFish in training villagers to build and maintain vertical gardens.
One positive aspect of vertical gardens is their ability to produce a significant amount of vegetables while taking up minimal space. This is especially important in Bangladesh, which is one of the world's most densely populated countries and is already facing challenges in growing enough food for its population. As the population is projected to increase in the future, innovative and space-efficient farming techniques like vertical gardens become crucial.
The article also provides insights into the process of setting up and maintaining vertical gardens. Villagers harvest soil during a specific time of the year when it is less salty, mix it with fertilizer, and place it in containers raised off the ground to prevent water-logging. Different types of vegetables can be grown in different parts of the containers based on their root lengths. The cost of constructing vertical gardens is relatively low, making it an accessible option for the rural poor in Bangladesh.
Overall, this article showcases the resilience and adaptability of farmers in facing the challenges brought about by climate change and emphasizes the importance of sustainable farming practices. Vertical gardens offer a practical and effective solution to the loss of arable land due to flooding and salinization, allowing communities to continue growing their own food in a resource-efficient manner.