Agronomic Practices of the Haor Farmers to Combat Climate Stresses On Mustard Production

Mustard cultivation in Bangladesh, particularly in the ecologically fragile Hakaluki haor region faces severe challenges of erratic rainfall, drought, hailstorms, and insect-pest infestation. As a result, germination, vegetative growth and yield of mustard are severely affected almost every year. In this context, the study aimed to identify the major climate stresses on mustard production and their ways out. The study was conducted in five different villages of Hakaluki haor under Uttar Fenchuganj union in Sylhet district. A total of 99 farmers were randomly selected as the sample for the study from a population of 250 farmers who were interviewed using a pre-tested interview schedule from January to February 2024. Data were analyzed using SPSS software and Ms-Excel. Findings revealed that mustard cultivation was hampered in two phases-at the germination phase and at the vegetative growth of its life cycle. Germination was frequently failed either by excessive soil moisture due to un-time rainfall or by in-sufficient soil moisture due to drought. On the other hand, vegetative growth was affected by hailstorm, water logging, and insect-disease infestation. Germination problem due to insufficient soil moisture was resolved by choosing alluvial soils by 60% cases because of its higher water holding capacity while, 36% had opted well drained but water source adjacent lands and 44% had fixed it by watering the soils. Adjusting of sowing time was practiced by 75% of the respondents to minimize effects of heavy rainfall on germination and hail storms on vegetative growth of mustard. Overwhelming majority of the respondents (83%) had chemical measures against insect-pests infestation while only 20% tried to mitigate this problem through well tilling of the soils. Coefficients of correlation suggested that all these coping strategies were significantly associated with the occupation, age, education level, farm size, perception and farming experience of the respondents. However, the major problems faced by them were limited access to improved seeds, inadequate irrigation facilities, high input costs, and lack of technical knowledge