Ethnic Bangladeshis lose jobs as mango-mad farm owners shun thirsty rice

NAOGAON: Kalamoti Kujur used to make good money as a laborer in the paddy fields near her home in northwest Bangladesh. But five years ago, in response to drought, landowners started growing mangoes instead, which need less water and attention than rice. Kujur, a member of the Oraon ethnic minority in Naogaon district, lost her job and now struggles to support her family.

Many local people like her who do not own land used to earn 200 taka ($2.36) a day laboring in the rice fields. “But, in recent years, the landlords are transforming their paddy fields into mango gardens, making us workless,” she said. In the Barind region of northwestern Bangladesh, rice has long been the sole source of income for the landless Oraon, who traditionally make a living as farm laborers or sharecroppers.

But frequent droughts, poor precipitation and increasing temperatures in the region - which environmental experts link to climate change - have made growing the thirsty crop tougher. Mango trees can be cultivated with fewer people, they say, and use up to 80% less water than growing rice. As rice harvesting season approaches, there are no longer enough jobs for all the Oraon living in Naogaon, Kujur said. Like many others in the area, her eldest son has left their village for six months

to find work in another district. “The male members of our families are compelled to migrate for work, so we have to stay home alone, which makes our lives difficult,” said the 45-year-old mother of three. Tajul Islam, a farm owner in Porsha sub-district, has replaced his 5 hectares of rice with four mango orchards. Amid drier weather and higher temperatures, rice farming was losing him too much money, he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “We know shifting to mango farming from paddy (rice) cuts off work for ethnic people, but we prefer mango farming as it requires less labour,” Islam said.

‘No rain, no crop’

The Oraon people were brought from India to Bangladesh by the British colonial government to construct railways in Bengal. They and other ethnic minority groups in Naogaon make up about 7% of the district’s more than 2.5 million residents, official data shows, although local charities and minority rights groups say the real figure is higher.

Water scarcity is a common problem for ethnic minorities in Barind, known as “plain-land people”, a moniker distinguishing them from other groups in Bangladesh’s hilly areas. The region is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, according to a February study by environmental engineers at Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University in Dinajpur and Rajshahi University of Engineering and Technology.

Temperature extremes in the region have increased, while annual rainfall has decreased, leading to a reduction in water availability, they found. In Naogaon’s Porsha sub-district, the entire ethnic minority population of about 15,000 is affected by water shortages, according to local non-profit Barendrabhumi Samaj Unnayan Sangstha (BSDO), which works with those communities.— Reuters