Due to the fact that the Khulna region of Bangladesh is very prone to floods and the soil has a high salt content, farmers in this region have been unable to make good use of the land to grow crops and vegetables. "We can neither grow crops nor raise fish," said a 45-year-old farmer in the Satkhira district of southwestern Bangladesh.
As we all know, Bangladesh has flat and fertile land, which is very suitable for growing crops and vegetables throughout the year. However, as the water level rises, the land in the southern part of the delta is becoming less and less suitable for planting.
Dr. A F M Jamal Uddin, a professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture of Bangladesh Agricultural University, hopes that hydroponics can solve this problem. He pointed out a series of challenges to realize hydroponics cultivation. Because the cost of hydroponics is very high, Bangladesh is still far away from the commercialization of this method.
In order to ensure that hydroponics can bring sufficient benefits to crops, crops need to be grown in a film greenhouse made of special polyethylene materials, which helps control the temperature in the greenhouse. Rain and bad weather will be one of the challenges facing thin film greenhouses. In order to reduce rain and bad weather damage to the film greenhouse, a more durable polyethylene material made in Israel can be used.
As there is less and less dry land in the area, local farmers are forced to practice hydroponic garden farming. The current
hydroponic technology has been greatly developed, and the yield of crops harvested by this technology has been increasing year by year. Due to the salinization of local land, this method of growing agricultural products has become more and more necessary. Through the use of hydroponics, high-value crops can be planted throughout the year without the use of soil.
The Bangladesh government has been working hard to promote hydroponics to grow crops, especially in areas where monsoon rains are prone to flooding. In 2013, the government approved a project worth 1.6 million US dollars to promote the development of hydroponic agriculture, which covered 12,000 households in 8 districts of Bangladesh.