Char farmers have gained success in vegetable and fish farming through sorjan cropping system on the fallow lands of Noakhali throughout the year.

By applying the system, they are getting high profit with low investment in several thousand acres of land which remained fallow for years in Hatiya and Subarnachar char areas due to stagnation of water during monsoon, salinity and desertification in the summer.

Sorjan is a cropping system which helps the growers to cultivate fish and vegetables simultaneously on the same land in dry and wet seasons, said local farmers.

For the last few years, this cropping system has become very popular among the growers as they are now being more benefited from vegetable and fish farming using the system than rice cultivation.

Farmers Abdur Rashid and Amanullah of Subarnachar said high aisles and low drains are made on both sides of the land by cutting earth.  Then organic manure is spread on the aisle and vegetables like bitter gourd, cucumber, bean etc are produced.

At the same time tilapia, climbing fish (koi) carp, silver carp and other species of fishes are cultivated in the drain. When the surrounding areas are inundated by water in monsoon, the vegetable farms remain unaffected.

When there is no water during summer, the vegetable farms can be irrigated using the water from the drains.

At present, some 5,000 farmers have been applying sorjan system in their farms in the char areas.  Besides meeting local demand, the vegetables and fish produced by farmers are being sent to markets in different areas of the country including Dhaka, Chittagong and Comilla.

Pranab Bhttacharya, deputy director of the Department of Agriculture Extension in Noakhali, said about 1,500 hectares of land in salinity-prone areas of Hatiya and Subarnachar upazilas have been brought under cultivation using sorjan cropping system. 

The farmers have been adopting the system, which has improved their socio-economic condition, he said.

Experts from the Philippine Rice Research Institute evaluated use of the system as a response to climate change, maximise farm productivity, and ensure food security and regular income of farming families.

Sorjan, developed by Indonesian farmers, is a system that serves as an alternate of deep drains and raised beds. It can be used in both dry and wet seasons.