Disaster risk reduction activities help farmers in Bangladesh to save their rice production

The Sunamganj region, one of the poorest regions in Bangladesh situated in the north-east of the country, is regularly impacted by flash floods and seasonal floods. People live on scattered small patches of raised land (Hati) which become islands and are particularly vulnerable to flooding and erosion during the monsoon season.

Dry season (November - March)	Monsoon season (April - November)

Thanks to the launch of particular prevention and preparedness measures, farmers have learnt to be prepared in case of the occurrence of an early flash flood including the protection of their homestead, livestock and agricultural production, inter alia:

• Early rice varieties have been introduced in collaboration with the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI). These varieties allow farmers to harvest mature rice before the critical occurence of flash floods
• The entire communities were mobilized and engaged in voluntary work to raise the embankments for delaying water inflow by some weeks, thereby allowing the people to harvest the biggest part of the crops before the land submerges.

A demonstration plot of early rice variety BRRI-45 which was harvested in the last week of March 2010	People building an embankment to stop the water at the entry point

The projects on Livelihood, Empowerment and Agroforestry (LEAF) and governance (SHARIQUE), implemented by Intercooperation, were selected by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) among others as pilot projects for testing and monitoring Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) mainstreaming efforts. For more information, please read the entire success story about DRR in Bangladesh (PDF).