Khadiza Begum, a female farmer from Jelikhali village in Assasuni upazila, Satkhira, used to grow crops in small tubs occasionally, despite having limited knowledge about it, in order to ensure a vegetable supply even when cultivating crops on the lands was not feasible.
Khadiza, a 37-year-old housewife, shared that she used to collect used plastics such as mugs, buckets, or unused bottles to use as tubs, unaware of the environmental hazards associated with plastic pollution. ‘UNDP made us aware of using environmentally friendly clay tubs and taught us about plant care,’ she said.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has been implementing the Green Climate Fund and the government-funded Gender-Responsive Coastal Adaptation project in coastal areas to empower local communities in combating plastic pollution through sustainable hydroponics. Hydroponics, a new farming technique gaining momentum worldwide, has brought immense potential to the people in the coastal areas of Bangladesh.
This method nurtures plant growth in nutrient-rich water solutions, eliminating the need for soil. According to the project coordinator, Mohammad Iftekhar Hossain, Khadiza was not the only one benefiting from this initiative. Several thousand people across five upazilas, divided into 359 groups, had adopted this new technology, he said.
Officials expressed high hopes that these innovative farming methods and the use of earthen pots would contribute to a greener future in Bangladesh's vulnerable coastal areas. They emphasized that the theme for World Environment Day 2023 is #BeatPlasticPollution, underscoring the need to address plastic pollution and its adverse effects on the environment.The UNDP was actively working on the ground to achieve this objective, they said.
The officials believed that this technology would be particularly useful for coastal communities as salinity increased and land fertility decreased in the area. Iftekhar Hossain said that the UNDP was preparing people to adapt to changing circumstances.
The original content was published in New Age ( https://www.newagebd.net/article/203405/undp-introduces-plastic-free-hydroponics-in-coastal-areas )