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THE GREEN WARRIORS OF MAJHER CHAR
Almost unaware about climate change issues in the mid-eighties,Komor Uddin Ahmed,however,was guided by the benefits of forestation and its future economic value while generating the 
plantation.Simultaneously,he also tried to raise the awareness of his fellow char-dwellers about the environment and the economic benefit of plantations.Over the years,a large number of families in the char have started growing a variety of trees near their houses.Gradually people realized that the river Brahmaputra which surrounds the char had moved away from the char bankline and was no longer as furious and land-hungry as it used to be.They also noticed that regular erosion has been checked to a larger extent with the growth of the plantation.People for the first time,witnessed the fruits of plantations in their fragile land and lovingly used to call him as Baganwala.In 2003-04,Komor Uddin Ahmed(Baganwala) became the first person from the North East region to receive the prestigious Indira Priyadarshini Vriksha Mittra award.
| Among all the disparities,the only positive aspect is that the landmass of Majher Char has remained almost intact for the past several years,barring minor erosion in some parts,thanks to the initiative for plantations that was carried out way back in the mid-eighties. |
Following his father’s footsteps,Moniruddin Seikh(38),the eldest of six siblings,a graduate and a teacher of Majher Char-Chalakura ME Madrasa School,has now dreamt of extending his mission-but in a bigger and more ambitious way.He has harvested the earlier plantation to replace it with medicinal plants having high environment and market value,applying scientific methodology and technology.“Way back in the mid-eighties,my father could realize that traditional agricultural products were of no market value and were non-remunerative.The minimum support prices of agriculture products like paddy and jute that government fixes always remained lower than the actual cost of production.This realization made my father to go for new experiments but he was unaware of issues like climate change and its impact on the livelihood of people.My effort is to address the issues of climate change adaptation and erosion protection of char land,”says Moniruddin,stating that his mission includes soil testing,shifting to organic method of agriculture practices,integrated dairy and fishery farming and simultaneously going for large-scale plantation of medicinal plant species.
To achieve his goal,Moniruddin,a close associate of Krishi Vigyan Kendra(KVK) has adopted a two-pronged innovative programme.First-the long term plantation of medicinal and other valuable plants like Chandan(Santalum album Linn),Neem (Indian Liliac),Segun (tick),Mahogany,etc.These trees have both high environment and lucrative market value.Second-the short term plan to engage poor and marginal farmers to go for large scale organic farming of ‘Quality Production of Maize(QPM)’,in an integrated way as a viable economic option.Poor and marginal farmers usually cannot go for large-scale plantations as one has to wait for several years for returns.Poor farmers need money all the time to meet their daily needs and organic cultivation of quality maize can help them in improving their socio-economic conditions,he feels.
As part of his efforts Moniruddin,a member of Farmers Club of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development(NABARD),motivated 20 farmers to go for integrated maize cultivation in 2012,covering 150 bighas of land in the char.Although it was an experimental process to address the climate change issue-the move was made following a detailed research work.The 90-days crop,which was cultivated under the guidance of scientists of KVK and NABARD,enabled the farmers to earn a profit of `10,000/ per bigha of land.Per kilogram maize was sold at `15/ per kg in the local market.
| The enthusiastic youth and father of two has organised a series of training and workshop programme with the help of NABARD and KVK to motivate the youth of Majher Char and its nearby areas of the district into effective use of their land to fight climate change vulnerability |
Inspired by the experiences of the previous year,Moniruddin in association with Dhubri Farmer’s Club,has this year motivated 200 farmers covering 1000 bighas of land in Majher Char,Chalakura Char and Pholimari Char,to produce quality product maize with an eye on the outside market.“This is a highly ambitious plan.We have already discussed with a company,to procure maize at `56 per kilogram.The final agreement,however,is yet to be reached.If farmers get such a high price it would obviously boost the economy of the char land,”he says.
Farmers in char usually produce jute as the main cash-crop,apart from paddy and vegetables.All these have become non-remunerative.This coupled with erosion and ravaging annual floods caused by the River Brahmaputra pushed many families of Majer Char to penury and forced the main earners of these families to migrate to the nearest town of Dhubri-the headquarters of the district on a daily basis parting with a share of their income in commuting from the char to the town in a boat across the river.
Mumtaj Begum(33),a teacher of the school says that the people of the char areas in her district have to face all the miseries related to the change in the pattern of the monsoon and overall climate.The barren paddy fields owned by her in-laws and other char dwellers stood testimony of this bitter truth.They started cultivation of early-winter crops like leafy-vegetables,brinjals and radish,but flood-waters during mid-September destroyed the standing crop leaving the farmers in the lurch.Most of
the residents who were met during the study echoed Mumtaj that they have been experiencing unusual weather conditions such as the late arrival of monsoons in mid-September for past three to four years but are clueless about the reasons behind this.However,some of them say they have heard that a portion of Bangladesh will be submerged by the rising level of sea water due to the melting of glaciers as a result of climate change which they say was perhaps causing drastic changes in weather conditions.
Describing how medicinal plants can boost the economy of the chars in the long run Moniruddin cites many examples.The eco-friendly neem based products,for instance,are used everywhere in organic farming.In fact,he himself procures neem dust to use as insecticide in one of his 11 bigha plots of plantation–cum-fishery at a high market price which he has to procure from markets of West Bengal.Large scale plantation of neem trees in char areas would not only have environment and soil conservation benefits but also enable the youth to set up processing units of neem dust in the future.
Hasmat Ali(45),a rickshaw-puller and father of eight children has only one bigha of land in the char on which he has planted gamari trees.He considers the plantation as an investment for his three sons.His daughters are engaged in incense-stick making.
The life of a char dweller is an endless struggle for survival.A study carried out in Majher Char in Dhubri district under the IUCN Media Fellowship Programme,2013 to study food security,climate change,inland navigation,environmental security and biodiversity conservation in char areas of lower Assam has revealed that Majher Char,which is around 3 kms in length and 2.5 kms in width has a total population of around 12,000 with 1,700 families.Number of Below Poverty Line families account for 1,523.The char has a health sub-center without a doctor and an ANM nurse,three government-aided primary and six non-provincialised primary and ME school and a non-provincialized High School.Nutritional supplement in the form of cooked rice with dal and vegetables under the government Mid-Day Meal Programme is provided in all the primary and ME schools.
Like most chars,Majher Char also does not have electricity.Solar lamps have been distributed among some students studying in the government-aided schools.After the completion of primary education,students mostly have to go to Dhubri town boarding the machine-fit boats paying `20/ for a round –trip journey.This has led to a huge number of school dropouts,mostly of girl students and is forcing the adolescents and youth to search for petty jobs in Dhubri town.The wages paid for such jobs are very low as job-seekers are always abundant in comparison to the jobs available for them.Womenfolk and young girls who have dropped out of school are mostly engaged in incense-stick making work while sitting at home.A woman can hardly produce one kilogram of incense-sticks a day after completing all the household chores and earns `12/ per kilogram.Among all the disparities,the only positive aspect is that the landmass of Majher Char has remained almost intact for the past several years,barring minor erosion in some parts,thanks to the initiative for plantations that was carried out way back in the mid-eighties.The char appears to be almost a permanent habitat.“Acute livelihood crisis and constant erosion have compelled the char people to leave their habitat and migrate to safer places.My aim,however,is to bring people back to their land.However,they will come back only when farming will become viable and remunerative.Somehow,in Majher Char,the landmass has remained protected so far.My aim is to use the land productively using scientific and integrated method of agriculture practices.If we become successful,the same could be implemented in other areas,”an optimistic Moniruddin says.
The enthusiastic youth and father of two has organised a series of training and workshop programmes with the help of NABARD and KVK to motivate the youth of Majher Char and its nearby areas of the district into effective use of their land to fight climate change vulnerability.
Boats are the only means of communication and the char dwellers make the unsafe journey across the mighty river on open boats by which they reach the nearest town-Dhubri in an hour’s time.There is no government ferry service to connect the char with the rest of the world.
‘Chars’ and ‘chaporis’-are the most fragile landmasses created by the river Brahmaputra and its major tributaries in their courses found in abundance in Assam and Bangladesh and are vulnerable to constant erosion.According to the Char Area Development Authority,the Char-Chapori areas are distributed in 23 sub-divisions scattered across 14 districts of Assam,covering 2,251 villages in 299 Gaon Panchayats and 59 Development Blocks.These are home to over 24 lakh people.
DhuDhubri district has the highest concentration of 6.89 char population,living in 480 different char villages.The total population of the district is 19,48,632.The Char areas are considered to be the most backward areas of the district.The literacy rate of the district is 59.36,the infant mortality rate is 68 and under-five mortality rate is 89 against the state averages of 73.18,57 and 75 accordingly.According to National Rural Health Mission reports of the district,73 per cent of pregnant women in the district who were provided ante-natal care are found to be ‘anemic’ during 2012 - 13.Such a gloomy picture can be attributed to factors like climate change vulnerability,acute livelihood risks and insecurity of life owing to soil erosion and further displacement.
Residents of Majher Char have learnt through experiments the techniques to reduce their vulnerability by trying new agricultural practices to replace traditional ones that have become non-remunerative and have also adopted new uses of their land in trying to protect and make best use of every inch to make their living on the char sustainable.They are not only confident of long term success of their experiments but also feel that when noticed,it would also be adopted by dwellers of other chars for sustainable living.
