Sustainability Management for Groundwater Irrigation in Barind Tract of Bangladesh

Abstract

The Barind tract is rich in mineral resources like coal, peat, hard rock, limestone, white clay, and glass sand, and is suitable for agricultural crops production in which paddy is the leading crop that contribute to ensuring food security in Bangladesh. Although there are three seasons for paddy production in Barind area, traditionally boro season is used for paddy production in most of the agricultural lands. Irrigation for cultivating paddy is indispensable for which the most convenient source of water is the surface water, but surface water source already has reached to an alarming level from the viewpoint of its availability in this region wherein only four months are attributed as the wet season allowing irrigation using surface water sources, and the rest of the year, that is, during the dry season for irrigation the farmers are to rely entirely on groundwater (GW), which is comparatively costly and limited. The main purpose of this study is to reveal and evaluate the sustainability status and management practices in the use of GW for irrigation in Barind tract of Bangladesh. It started with an endeavour to study legislative measures and framework in GW management for irrigation followed by an assessment of perceptions and examination of the participation of the farmers as well as local government officials in the execution of their action plans to address key management issues and drivers with a view to coming up with a sustainable strategic management approach applicable in the study area and other parts of the Barind tract of Bangladesh, thereby ensuring the obtainability of services of natural resources for the next generations.---