A novel system for boosting land productivity and income of smallholder farmers by intercropping vegetables in waterlogged paddy fields in the coastal zone of the Ganges Delta

In the coastal zone of the Ganges Delta, in the wet season (June to November), rice is the predominant crop due to extensive flooding, but the income is low and nutritional food security is compromised. To increase the income from waterlogged paddy land in the coastal zones of Bangladesh and West Bengal, India, intercropping of climbing types vegetables such as bitter gourd, snake gourd, long yard bean, sponge gourd, cucumber and ridge gourd was studied by planting the vegetables in sacks containing a mix of 90 kg soil and 10 kg manure during wet seasons of 2017- 2019. Though there was a small reduction (6.3%) in rice yield in this system, the total rice equivalent yield (REY) of the rice + vegetables intercropping system (15.3–29.0 t ha−1) increased significantly over sole rice cultivation (4.9 – 6.5 t ha−1). Higher land equivalent ratio (1.67–1.93) and net income of this system also indicated better land resource utilization compared to sole rice cultivation. The net income from sole rice crop was US$ 193–612 ha−1 (mean $322 ha−1) but increased to US$ 268–3137 ha−1 (mean $1576 ha−1) with the intercropping interventions. The intercropping approach decreased year-to-year income variation by mitigating the risks to rice income due to climate threats such as cyclones. Thus, the net income of small and marginal farmers was increased substantially by practicing vegetable cultivation in lowland waterlogged paddy fields with this innovative technology. This technology has significant potential to increase the livelihood and nutritional outcomes of the poor farming families in the waterlogged coastal region.