<h2> Irrigation in Bangladesh </h2>

The farmers irrigate their field

                                                 

Irrigation is a blessing to agriculture of any country. It turns barren land into smiling crops fields. It is irrigation that can ensure timely water supply to land. Irrigation adds to agricultural prosperity and increases the yield per acre. It also makes possible to grow improved varieties of crops. Irrigation also leads to the growth of the meas of transport and communication and the flourishing of internal and external trade. In Bangladesh, the problem of irrigation is, however, regarded from a different angle of vision. Mr. R. G. Casey, at one time a Governor of Bengal, aptly said, “ East Bengal suffer, not from scarcity of water but from too much of it’ Thus the problem here is one of the flood control, checking erosion and removing water from the marshy lands. During the rainy season, devasting floods occur and destroy standing crops. These floods can be resisted if high embankments are constructed along the banks of the big rivers. Already the Gumti bund in Comilla, the Karnafuli bund and the Meghna bund, together with the coastal embankment along the Bay of Bengal in the southern districts- Khulna, Bakerganj, Noakhali and Chittagong, have been constructed. Secondly, in order to control floods, the beds of the existing rivers should be made deep enough and the still must be removed from the mouths of rivers. For this purpose dredging is essential.

Irrigation system

        For irrigation Bangladesh mainly depends on rains and rivers. But rain is full of whims that often affect us adversely. Heavy rainfall often causes floods. On the other hand, our winter is often rainless and very dry. So our farmers never get water in proper way for cultivation. Either they get more or they get less than they need. They are just left to the mercy of nature.                        

           Out ot 24 million acres of cultivable land in Bangladesh only 6 lac acres are irrigated by various traditional methods which are extremely back-dated, time-consuming and inadequate. In recent years emphasis on irrigation by power pumps has been laid. So far about 38000 power pumps have been introduced and near about 18 lakh acres of land are said to have been brought under irrigation by the method. Some farmers of our country are also using them. But they should use them on an extensive scale so that plentiful underground water may be utilized for irrigation in dry season. There are hundreds of tanks, canals and rivers in our country.

         It is estimated that 13 million acres additional land can be irrigated here by extensive drainage, construction of diversion works and canals and pumping of surplus water. Still Bangladesh has several irrigation schemes of which the Ganges-Kodak scheme is the most important. It irrigates over 50 lac acres of land in Kushtia, Jessore and Khulna districts. But in recent years the Farrakh problem has dealt a death blow to this major irrigation scheme of Bangladesh. The Teesta Barrage project also irrigates over 1 lakh acres of land in the districts of Dinajpur, Rangpur and Bogra. To know more about 'Eyesight of Bangladesh'