Present scenario and problem confrontation of Dyke vegetable production in brackish water ghers in Southwestern coastal area of Bangladesh

The embankments (Dykes) of the shrimp farms (Ghers) have been taken under vegetable production which deserves to be expedited for further implications. The aims of the study were to identify the present associated aspects of vegetable production on dykes in brackish water ghers. Data were collected from purposively selected 67 respondents in Dacope upazila of Khulna district in Bangladesh. The average area of the dykes was 8.89±4.69 decimals, and average width was 1.73±0.34 m. The dykes were prepared either by spading or by preparing pits. The farmers grew vegetables in Kharip-2 season (July 01 to October 15). The farmers usually grew 16 types of vegetables as mixed crops, among which bitter gourd (86.56%) was dominant followed by cucumber (82.08%) and pumpkin (76.11%), following two cropping patterns: vegetable-fallow-fallow and vegetable-vegetable-fallow. The cropping intensity was 162%. Majority (76.1%) of the respondents harvested vegetables four times. In terms of yield, the tomato (60 t ha^-1) was dominant, followed by brinjal (57.09 t ha^-1) and cabbage (55.41 t ha^-1). The average expenditure for and net income from vegetable were 79,531.25 BDT (935.90 USD) ha^-1 and 2,40,762.5 BDT (2,833.21 USD) ha^-1. The dykes are occupying an area of 4,149.75 ha which would be able to produce 1,04,438.83  tons of vegetables. 29 associated problems were identified, among those “rats attack” was the highest severe problem (100%, 1^st). The confronted problems should be overcome through appropriate measures, and a typical model should be developed through research for dyke vegetable production to make it more resilient and profitable.

• Research Project