Documentary on towards inclusive canal water management for resilient agri-food systems in coastal Bangladesh

Sarker, M. R. and Rahman, M. M. 2024. Documentary on towards inclusive canal water management for resilient agri-food systems in coastal Bangladesh. CGIAR Initiative on Asian Mega-Deltas. International Rice Research Institute, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Freshwater scarcity severely impacts the agri-food systems (crop agriculture, fisheries, and livestock) in the saline-prone coastal areas of Bangladesh, particularly in the dry season. This challenge is shaped by both anthropogenic as well as climatic factors. Naturally existing canal networks which crisscross the entire deltaic regions connecting rivers to the sea have historically been a source of freshwater in the deltas, and were the life-line for farming, fishing and livestock storing rainwater in drought-prone periods which extend from November-May each year. Canals also store rainwater and served as resources for capture fishing which is a key livelihood for large numbers of local communities, particularly the landless, and also were used to water livestock.

Canals – through which water flows from the rivers to the sea are in principle state-owned resources – the ownership and use of which needs to be, by constitution – public. In practice, these canals are often classified as water resources that do not flow and have over the past two decades been leased out – officially – to small groups of elite individuals who mostly practice mixed water shrimp culture. Most of these canals in the region are now blocked off as sites for shrimp-culture or as fishponds, converted into croplands, sub-leased out, or filled to create new plots for house construction – all activities that are illegal as per the official leasing conditions. The leaseholders monitor and restrict access to canal water – and an anthropogenic water crisis has been created through elite capture – severely restricting water access and use for marginalized, smallholder farmers who make for more than 80% of the total population. The majority of the local people have lost their traditional, legal rights to these common-pool resources for irrigation, fishing, and livestock-related livelihoods.

In a few rare cases, local communities have been supported to reclaim and rehabilitate these by NGOs. Occasionally some staff of the local and regional administration and youth advocacy groups have engaged in and supported these processes, but these case studies are few and far, and often require long litigious processes, and can often be met with violence and aggression by the elite who have considerable power, privilege and social and political conditions.

In this video, we document how the rehabilitation of a small segment of a canal in Kultali, Dhankhali in Satkhira district to show how this intervention has positively changed agri-food systems and rehabilitated the ecological habitats, as well as livelihoods, incomes and health of local communities, who benefit from improved water for irrigating crops in the dry season, fishing in canals, rearing ducks, and watering cattle. We also document the opinions of government officials – demonstrating that everyone is aware that these freshwater canals are a lifeline of the agri-food systems in saline-prone coastal settings. Our documentary shows that processes of elite domination, illegal leasing, restriction of access to common pool resources can be reversed, and the outcomes of these interventions can be phenomenal and far-reaching.