1.2 Coordonnées des personnes-ressources et des institutions impliquées dans l'évaluation et la documentation de la Technologie

Nom du projet qui a facilité la documentation/ l'évaluation de la Technologie (si pertinent)

Book project: where people and their land are safer - A Compendium of Good Practices in Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) (where people and their land are safer)

Nom du ou des institutions qui ont facilité la documentation/ l'évaluation de la Technologie (si pertinent)

HELVETAS (Swiss Intercooperation)

1.3 Conditions relatives à l'utilisation par WOCAT des données documentées

Le compilateur et la(les) personne(s) ressource(s) acceptent les conditions relatives à l'utilisation par WOCAT des données documentées:

Oui

1.4 Déclaration sur la durabilité de la Technologie décrite

Est-ce que la Technologie décrite ici pose problème par rapport à la dégradation des terres, de telle sorte qu'elle ne peut pas être déclarée comme étant une technologie de gestion durable des terres?

Non

Commentaires:

Context specific environmentally friendly technology

2.1 Courte description de la Technologie

Définition de la Technologie:

Floating Garden is a traditional technology, practiced in the southern parts of Bangladesh locally called “Baira” or “Dhap”. The technology allows producing crops, vegetables and seedlings in areas where farming land is scarce and where the land is flodded or water logged for more than six months in a year.

2.2 Description détaillée de la Technologie

Description:

Floating gardensa are a traditional practice in south central districts of Bangladesh since long time, and has been promoted by government extension agency and development organizations in different parts of the country with technical improvements. With this technology, crops (mainly vegetables) are cultivated on floating garden beds in areas where the land inundated for more than six months in a year.
Establishment:
The basic input and main raw material to prepare the floating garden bed are water hyacinths (Eichhornia crassipes). In some cases bamboo sticks are also used to make the floating beds more resistant. The floating gardens are of different size, with a standard size per bed during preparation of 1.5 - 1.8 meter wide, 10 -11 meter long and 1 - 1.3 meter above water level. However, considering local context- such as wave action, size of water body, presence of a wetland - the bed size may vary, also depending on whether compost is added on the top. The establishment of the floating gardens are very cheap in terms of raw material and require mainly human manual labour for its establishment, without material costs for maintenance.
The garden can be used for two purposes: for vegetable production and for vegetable seedling production.
In water logged areas (where water remains for the whole year) floating beds are mainly used for vegetable production. Almost any type of vegetables can be grown in the floating bed. Production of leafy vegetables proofed to be most profitable. In addition, all types of vegetable seedlings and rice seedlings can produced in floating garden based on demand. In other areas, which are only inundated temporarily, floating garden can be used for both vegetable and seedling production. In this second case seedlings can be transfered from the garden to the fields on the main land immediately after receding of the water. This practice can save 2 to 3 weeks time of vegetable or rice production in winter season. This is a crucial advantage considering the trend to shorter growing periods due to unpredictable early spring rains.
A key advantage of floating gardening is the fact that heavy rainfalls usually do not have any negative effect on culture of the floating gardens, which are a highly effective and beneficial risk reduction and climate change mitigation technology. Floating gardens can further contribute to food security and improved nutrition for poor households, and it is a source for additional income by making use of cheap and abundant local input resources. Different NGOs improved and promoted this technology in north-west and north-east parts of Bangladesh since 2000. Since 2011 also the public agricultural extension agencies promote this technology.
As an overall goal this technology aims at protecting people’s assets for agricultural production from damages due to seasonal floods and provide options for alternative income resources. The floating garden technology is designed as measure to protect effectively from yearly floods. It might not be robust enough for extreme events with heavy storms and waves. Smaller repairing can be done by the owners themselves. In case of major damages the beds can be replaced by new ones, since the investment costs are very low. In the shallow areas the floating beds may become ordinary garden beds or fields during dry season.

2.3 Photos de la Technologie

2.4 Vidéos de la Technologie

2.5 Pays/ région/ lieux où la Technologie a été appliquée et qui sont couverts par cette évaluation

2.6 Date de mise en œuvre de la Technologie

Si l'année précise est inconnue, indiquez la date approximative: :

• il y a moins de 10 ans (récemment)

2.7 Introduction de la Technologie

Spécifiez comment la Technologie a été introduite: :

• par le biais de projets/ d'interventions extérieures

Commentaires (type de projet, etc.) :

The technology was first piloted through implementation of “Livelihoods, Empowerment and Agroforestry (LEAF)” project. Later on, the technology was expanded through implementation of “Agricultural Innovation for Eliminating Extreme Poverty” (AIEEP 2009-2012) and through Unnoti -Prosperity in Haor project (2013-2016).

3.1 Principal(aux) objectif(s) de la Technologie

• améliorer la production
• réduire les risques de catastrophes
• s'adapter au changement et aux extrêmes climatiques et à leurs impacts
• créer un impact économique positif
• créer un impact social positif

• improve household food security / nutrition

3.2 Type(s) actuel(s) d'utilisation des terres, là où la Technologie est appliquée

3.3 Est-ce que l’utilisation des terres a changé en raison de la mise en œuvre de la Technologie ?

Commentaires:

earlier these wetland areas were mainly fallow (not used for any productive purpose). During monsoon season, the waterbodies naturally count on fish reserves, which are captures by local farmers including landless poor. Water hyacinth of these wetlands were partially used as fodder, though most of it was decomposed naturally without use.

3.4 Approvisionnement en eau

autre (par ex., post-inondation):

• post-flooding

Commentaires:

Floating gardens are prepared on the water body, hence can absorb sufficient water without additional irrigation.

3.5 Groupe de GDT auquel appartient la Technologie

• Amélioration de la couverture végétale/ du sol
• gestion/ protection des zones humides
• Jardins/ potagers familiaux

3.6 Mesures de GDT constituant la Technologie

Commentaires:

floating beds, which are adapted to changing water levels (floods).
change of land/water management from pure wetlands to gardens.

3.7 Principaux types de dégradation des terres traités par la Technologie

Commentaires:

More frequent and severe seasonal floodings

3.8 Prévention, réduction de la dégradation ou réhabilitation des terres dégradées

Spécifiez l'objectif de la Technologie au regard de la dégradation des terres:

• réduire la dégradation des terres
• s'adapter à la dégradation des terres

Commentaires:

The technology is used to adapt to natural seasonal flooding, to prevent damages caused by floods by using wet lands for crop production.

4.1 Dessin technique de la Technologie

4.2 Informations générales sur le calcul des intrants et des coûts

Spécifiez la manière dont les coûts et les intrants ont été calculés:

• par superficie de la Technologie

autre/ monnaie nationale (précisez):

BDT

4.3 Activités de mise en place/ d'établissement

	Activité	Calendrier des activités (saisonnier)
1.	Bed preparation (by hired labour)	August-September
2.	Seeding, care and maintenance, harvesting	September-March

Commentaires:

After full harvesting of vegetable in March, the bed (decomposed water hyacinth) can be used as organic compost for other crops in cultivable land.

4.4 Coûts et intrants nécessaires à la mise en place

	Spécifiez les intrants	Unité	Quantité	Coûts par unité	Coût total par intrant	% des coût supporté par les exploitants des terres
Main d'œuvre	Hired labour cost for bed establishment	persons day	10,0	300,0	3000,0
Main d'œuvre	Bed management cost (seeing, care, harvest ect.)	persons day	90,0	300,0	27000,0	100,0
Matériel végétal	Seeds per year	kg	25,0	100,0	2500,0	100,0
Matériaux de construction	Bamboo	bamboo quantity	2,0	100,0	200,0
Matériaux de construction	Rope and lubricants	lumpsum	1,0	250,0	250,0
Coût total de mise en place de la Technologie					32950,0
Coût total de mise en place de la Technologie en dollars américains (USD)					32950,0

4.5 Activités d'entretien/ récurrentes

Commentaires:

No maintenance required

4.6 Coûts et intrants nécessaires aux activités d'entretien/ récurrentes (par an)

Commentaires:

No specific maintenance costs during the year/season required. Small repairments are part of the labour costs of agronomic mesures to be done in paralele with care work.

4.7 Facteurs les plus importants affectant les coûts

Décrivez les facteurs les plus importants affectant les coûts :

In case the inputs, mainly water hyacinths, are not available at the selected sites, this increases the material and/or labour costs for hyacinths to be transported from distant locations.
All indicated costs refer to yearly costs, since the beds ususally have to be restablished every year.

5.1 Climat

5.2 Topographie

Indiquez si la Technologie est spécifiquement appliquée dans des:

• situations concaves

5.3 Sols

Si disponible, joignez une description complète du sol ou précisez les informations disponibles, par ex., type de sol, pH/ acidité du sol, capacité d'échange cationique, azote, salinité, etc.

Not applicable for this technology as floating bed prepare on surface of water body

5.4 Disponibilité et qualité de l'eau

La salinité de l'eau est-elle un problème? :

Non

La zone est-elle inondée?

Oui

Régularité:

fréquemment

Commentaires et précisions supplémentaires sur la qualité et la quantité d'eau:

Each year seasonal monsoon flooding. However, early flash (pre monsoon flood) occur only every 3 years.

5.5 Biodiversité

Commentaires et précisions supplémentaires sur la biodiversité:

Water bodies are rich with diverse aquatic organisms

5.6 Caractéristiques des exploitants des terres appliquant la Technologie

5.7 Superficie moyenne des terres utilisées par les exploitants des terres appliquant la Technologie

5.8 Propriété foncière, droits d’utilisation des terres et de l'eau

Droits d’utilisation de l’eau:

• accès libre (non organisé)
• individuel

Commentaires:

The farmers establish floating gardens in public water body and in private water body (with verbal agreement of water body owners).

5.9 Accès aux services et aux infrastructures

6.1 Impacts sur site que la Technologie a montrés

Impacts socio-économiques

Production

Revenus et coûts

Impacts socioculturels

Impacts écologiques

Biodiversité: végétale, animale

Réduction des risques de catastrophe et des risques climatiques

6.2 Impacts hors site que la Technologie a montrés

Précisez l'évaluation des impacts extérieurs (sous forme de mesures):

No specific research have been made on off-site and environmental impact of the floating garden technology.

6.3 Exposition et sensibilité de la Technologie aux changements progressifs et aux évènements extrêmes/catastrophes liés au climat (telles que perçues par les exploitants des terres)

Extrêmes climatiques (catastrophes)

Catastrophes hydrologiques

	Comment la Technologie fait-elle face à cela?
inondation générale (rivière)	bien
crue éclair	très bien

Autres extrêmes climatiques (catastrophes)

autre (précisez)	Comment la Technologie fait-elle face à cela?
increasingly unpredictable start and duration of monsoon/rainy season, floods	modérément

Autres conséquences liées au climat

Autres conséquences liées au climat

	Comment la Technologie fait-elle face à cela?
prolongement de la période de croissance	bien

Commentaires:

with the effect of climate change monsoon have become more impredictable: starting sooner, ending later.
The techology allows to plant and grow seedlings already before the end of rainy season, and can therefor mantain or even extend the growing period.

6.4 Analyse coûts-bénéfices

Quels sont les bénéfices comparativement aux coûts de mise en place (du point de vue des exploitants des terres)?

Quels sont les bénéfices comparativement aux coûts d'entretien récurrents (du point de vue des exploitants des terres)?

Commentaires:

Considering only one season - particualrly for intensive raining seasons - the gardens have positive benefits.
Considering a longer time period with less intensive rainy seasons, the fact that the bed ususally have to be reestablished every year might require an important work from a land user's perspective (therefore rate with slightly less benefits)

6.5 Adoption de la Technologie

• 1-10%

Si disponible, quantifiez (nombre de ménages et/ou superficie couverte):

about 1000

De tous ceux qui ont adopté la Technologie, combien d'entre eux l'ont fait spontanément, à savoir sans recevoir aucune incitation matérielle, ou aucune rémunération? :

• 11-50%

6.6 Adaptation

La Technologie a-t-elle été récemment modifiée pour s'adapter à l'évolution des conditions?

Non

6.7 Points forts/ avantages/ possibilités de la Technologie

Points forts/ avantages/ possibilités du point de vue de l'exploitant des terres
In the Haor area’ (local wetland ecosystem flooded during monsoon season) water hyacinths are naturally abundant. These are the basis and substrate for floating gardens. Hence, the technology makes use of local plants as resorces, as substrate of the floating garden. If required, floating bed can easily moved from one location to another. After preparation of the bed, no additional hard labour is required.
There is hardly pest infestation, therefore no use of pesticides is required.
After final harvest, the beds are used as organic compost for the fields. Further, the farmers either can sell or use the substrate of the garden as compost.
This simple technology and can easily be replicated.
During heavy rainfalls and storms, the crop are not damaged by floods since on a floating surface.

Points forts/ avantages/ possibilités du point de vue du compilateur ou d'une autre personne ressource clé
Through this technology, crops can be produced on the water surface. The usually abundant water hyacinth are used as a productive resource, which increases the surface for crop production. In contexts, such as Bangladesh, where land resources are scarce this opens production options in public/abundant water bodies for landless farmers, who can earn money within a short period and with little investment.
The production for home consumption improves nutrition, contributes to food security and surplus is sold at the market, which contribute to the income of poor households. The technology is useful for increasing production for home consumption and market.

6.8 Faiblesses/ inconvénients/ risques de la Technologie et moyens de les surmonter

Faiblesses/ inconvénients/ risques du point de vue de l’exploitant des terres	Comment peuvent-ils être surmontés?
In some cases there are water leeches available in the water body. Therefore, people become afraid of preparing floating beds.	People polish diesel/kerosene oil in their body before preparation of floating beds to protect them from attack of leeches.
In some cases, water hyacinths are not available locally, consequently farmers face difficulties to prepare floating beds in distant places. Further challenges are the guarding/security of the gardens, the time consuming establishment of the beds.	Introduce and prepare floating gardens by supporting whole groups instead of individual famers.
Wave action and local streams may drift away the floating beds	Use bamboo pole to fix floating beds and prevent that they are floating away.

Faiblesses/ inconvénients/ risques du point de vue du compilateur ou d'une autre personne ressource clé	Comment peuvent-ils être surmontés?
Non-availability of adequate quantity of water hyacinth in same place every year.	Prepare bed in the places where water hyacinth are available and then move the beds in to the desired locations.
Due to heavy wave action or heavy water flow, floating beds could be broken/destroyed.	Prepare small size beds.
Lack of awareness and willingness of farmers to practice this technology.	Organise meeting, training, demonstration, and learning visit.

7.1 Méthodes/ sources d'information

7.2 Références des publications disponibles

Titre, auteur, année, ISBN:

A learning documentary on Floating Vegetable Garden, HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation, March-2012, ISBN: 978-984-33-5313-9

Disponible à partir d'où? Coût?

https://youtu.be/AK_qTm2pUsw

Titre, auteur, année, ISBN:

Innovative Vegetable Cultivation, HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation, 2012

Disponible à partir d'où? Coût?

https://youtu.be/lhiraDjPymU

Titre, auteur, année, ISBN:

Piloting Schemes Systematic Integration of DRR in LEAF - December 2010

Disponible à partir d'où? Coût?

https://assets.helvetas.org/downloads/drr_capex.pdf

7.3 Liens vers les informations pertinentes en ligne

Titre/ description:

A learning documentary on Floating Vegetable Garden, HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation, March-2012, ISBN: 978-984-33-5313-9

URL:

https://youtu.be/AK_qTm2pUsw

Titre/ description:

Innovative Vegetable Cultivation, HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation, 2012

URL:

https://youtu.be/lhiraDjPymU

Titre/ description:

Islam and Atkins, 2007. Indigenous floating cultivation: a sustainable agricultural practice in the wetlands of Bangladesh. Development in Practice 17:130-136.

URL:

https://www.jstor.org/stable/25548185?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

Titre/ description:

Irfanullah et al., 2008. Introduction of floating gardening in the northeastern wetlands of Bangladesh for nutritional security and sustainable livelihood. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems 23:89-96

URL:

http://nopr.niscair.res.in/bitstream/123456789/11064/1/IJTK%2010(1)%2031-38.pdf

Titre/ description:

Irfanullah et al., 2011. Floating gardening in Bangladesh: a means to rebuild lives after devastating flood. Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge 10:31-38.

URL:

http://nopr.niscair.res.in/bitstream/123456789/11064/1/IJTK%2010(1)%2031-38.pdf

Titre/ description:

Irfanullah, 2013. Floating Gardening: a local lad becoming a climate celebrity? Clean Slate 88:26-27.

URL:

http://floodresilience.net/solutions/item/floating-gardening-a-local-lad-becoming-a-climate-celebrity