Irrigation by surface water benefits 12,000 farmers in Rajshahi

RAJSHAHI, July 10: The irrigation by using surface water have set around 1,600 hectares of lands free from water-logging, benefitting more than 12,000 farmers to boost food production.
Farmers have started deriving total benefits of the irrigation facilities with breakthrough of re-excavating 28-kilometer canals in different upazilas.
The canals were re-excavated under a project titled "Extension of Irrigation Facilities and Mitigation of Water Logging in Bagha, Charghat and Paba Upazilas of Rajshahi District", despite the present Covid-19 pandemic.
Barind Multipurpose Development Authority (BMDA) has implemented the Taka 28-crore project recently increasing cultivable land by 1,250 hectares through mitigating water logging problems and providing irrigation to 350 hectares of land directly.
"We have re-excavated 28-kilomter canal in addition to construction of 1,535-meter concrete wall, 100-meter slabs, four foot-over bridges and digging of 20 dug-walls", said project director Engineer Nazirul Islam.
Besides, a total of 10 low lift pumps run by two cusec solar panels each were installed for lifting water from the canal for irrigation in farming lands.
Apart from this, 4,035 meters retaining wall, eight light culverts and one sluice gate were constructed.
Islam said the infrastructures have brought more than 1,600 hectares of croplands under irrigation facilities contributing a lot towards producing around 8,800 metric tons of additional food grains every year.
With intervention of the project, around 8,000 saplings of fruit, wood and medicinal plants were transplanted on the embankment of the re-excavated canals.    -BSS