Rina Banu, a farmer's wife, dries the rice from the harvest made possible by mini ponds. Credit: Naimul Haq/IPS

By Naimul Haq
CHAPAINAWABGANJ, Bangladesh, Jul 8 2013 (IPS)

Bangladesh, a country of 150 million people who depend on rice as their main staple, is gearing up for drought. Already huge areas of the rice-producing regions are on a knife’s edge, as elusive rains and hotter temperatures team up on thirsty paddy fields and threaten to disrupt food supply.

Already nursing an annual food deficit of 1.8 million tonnes, Bangladesh is on the verge of a crisis.

But with the help of an initiative sponsored by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) to dig mini-ponds in rural communities, desperate rice farmers are seeing light at the end of the tunnel.

Small Ponds Bring Bumper Harvests from IPS Inter Press Service on Vimeo.

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