Agricultural thoughts: Context between Bangladesh and Japan

"Even an inch of land should not be left uncultivated," I thought of the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's directive a few months ago while standing in my own hand-made hobby garden in my village. The garden is of mixed fruit. Its work has been going on since last year. As the canopy of the tree is small, I planted turmeric this year as well as last year. I think every inch of land is being used for sure. Not only that, the land is being used upwards. Because there are 4-5 types of fruits with yellow and eggplant. It can be said that there are trees in different layers.

After a continuous downpour of rain for the last few days, I stopped for a moment in the picture of the garden that I got from my village this morning. My tree? My yellow? My eggplant? My lemon? Same situation? Where I have never heard of flood or river water, I have never seen knee water today. This situation is not only of my land but of Jabbar's uncle, his side, everyone.

There doesn't seem to be anything to do now. I thought, so what?
I thought again.

It reminded me of pictures of Japanese agriculture up close. They have the nature of being covered in snow for a few months of the year. This disaster is their birth companion. Is there a food crisis in these cold countries?

Indoor hydroponically grown vegetables are available all year round, frozen vegetables are available all year round, dark house mushrooms and bean sprouts are available in the market as well as stable supply. No natural disasters such as printing-chain disruptions, no artificial crises.

Let me tell you a little more detail.

How is the agriculture of developed countries? What should our future agriculture look like? The answer to this question is in 3 English terms, it is protected agriculture, precision agriculture and vertical farming.

After several greenhouses to go to the super shop from my home while in Japan. One day there was a chance to get inside one. There they produce vegetables. When it is snowing outside, they are producing vegetables inside the greenhouse in a beautiful way. And one day I wanted to go to the house of one of my labmates to see the farming work of his farmer father. I was surprised by what I saw. A huge fig tree inside a net's house. That is, as many stalks have been cut, so many have been cut. As a result of having a net, insects and spiders are not able to enter. This is protected agriculture. About 70-80 percent of Japan's tomatoes and strawberries are grown in protected agriculture.

One day a labmate at Niigata University was analyzing the Linux operating system. It seemed like a game of many colors. I found out later that he was doing NDVI analysis. There was a camera on the tree and the camera took pictures after a while. This colorful picture of the tree will tell you how much fertilizer the soil needs. Another professor presented a project. He shows the manure of a greenhouse about two hundred kilometers away controlling the water temperature from the computer in his chamber.

One day there was a technology transfer fair on campus. There I saw whether a tree had died in the deep forest by sending a drone to the computer video and picture analysis can be understood. Suppose you have to cultivate your land 100 km away, you can do it with an unmanned tractor. Precision agriculture with the help of such satellites is precision agriculture. Through this many problems or tasks of agriculture can be solved using satellites and information technology even with smartphones. For example, the satellite will give us accurate forecasts, upstream floods will be reported on mobile. And we will use remote sensing and GPS from Dhaka to cut the paddy of our haor with the help of a robotics combined harvester before the flood comes. At the moment a lot seems unimaginable. But many countries have done it.

Once from university, he took us on a study tour to a high school. On the way back from there he was taken to the strawberry garden. Strawberries in rows in trays in the greenhouse or indoors. He has her too. On my way back, I went to the super shop. I bought the lettuce leaves. I did not find any soil in the lower leaves of lettuce. I told a Japanese friend. He said it was produced in a hydroponic system. It is a compact system in water without soil (mixed with plant nutrients). If fish is added to it, it will be aquaponic. And to make him grow crops without soil and water is an allegation. Although I was surprised to hear the terms, I did not let him understand. Today we are not satisfied with the roof garden, now we are thinking about the cornice and balcony garden. The hydroponics of my previous job in the country (agricultural research) is going to be popular in the country today. None of this is part of vertical farming.

We have green sheets of crops everywhere in the fields. Maybe the occasional cedar, aila, flood-drought, heavy rain, unseasonal rain, some irregular disasters কিছু some of the rhythms of that green fall.

And these irregular disasters seem to be becoming regular now. So what's the way? Yeah Al that sounds pretty crap to me, Looks like BT aint for me either. The reality of bringing about change in our agriculture.

Our country is the whole greenhouse. Our farmers and entrepreneurs should dream of growing the crop in this greenhouse and processing it (frozen, dry, packet, or can) to meet the demand of the country and export it abroad.

In this time of the Corona epidemic, the rice crisis may not be in this green delta. However, the market will be hit by onion-pepper if we do not give more importance to the production and processing of these foods, there is no master plan. On the other hand, protected agriculture, precision agriculture, and vertical farming are not dreams but the reality today. This is the demand of the time today.

Author: Senior Scientific Officer, Bangladesh Wheat and Maize Research Institute, Dinajpur.