Northeastern Part Of Bangladesh Research Articles

Depositional Environment and Reservoir Prospect Analysis of Barail Sandstone Exposed in the Northeastern Part of Bangladesh

The study characterized the Oligocene Barail sandstone in the Surma Basin from a reservoir perspective. Data were collected by direct field observations; rock samples were collected from outcrops for detailed sedimentological, petrographic, and geochemical analysis. Collected sedimentary logs are analyzed to delineate the facies associations, sandbody architecture, and depositional environment. A total of ten facies were identified, which were further grouped into three facies associations: FA1: Tidal-influenced multistorey channel-fill deposits, FA2: Fluvial multistorey channel-fill deposits, and FA3: Overbank deposits. Facies analysis suggests that the Barail sandstone was deposited in the tidal-influenced paralic to fluvial depositional settings, and channel body dimensions increase towards the top. A petrographic study shows that these sandstones are mostly litharenite (Q70F4L26) in type, and sediments were derived from quartzose recycled orogens. The average porosity of the sandstones is 16.9%; the pore spaces are of both primary and secondary origin and are mostly interconnected. Porosity distribution in the fluvial multistory channel-fill deposits (FA2)—the upper part of the sandstone succession, is less heterogeneous, while that in the tidal-influenced channel-fill deposits (FA1), occurs in the lower part is more heterogeneous. Both the depositional process and diagenesis influenced the porosity of Barail sandstones. Geochemical analysis suggests that the sandstones are chemically stable and moderately matured. The study demonstrates that the Barail sandstones may be a good petroleum reservoir. The Dhaka University Journal of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Vol. 12(1), 2023, P 69-88

Satisfaction Level of Slum Dwellers with the Assistance of the City Corporation during COVID-19: The Bangladesh Context

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected Bangladesh’s economic and social well-being in many ways. Slum dwellers, including day laborers, rickshaw pullers, CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) drivers, housemaids, hawkers, and street vendors, were the worst victims of this pandemic. Besides the voluntary organizations, the City Corporation (urban local government), instructed by the central government, took the initiative to distribute necessary food as well as financial assistance to the city dwellers to survive during the lockdown. The objective of this study is to identify the satisfaction level of slum dwellers with the assistance received from the City Corporation and obtain an idea of whether these supports were enough for them to maintain their livelihood. This is a mixed method research consisting of both qualitative and quantitative approaches. Researchers conducted a field survey in Sylhet City Corporation, in the northeastern part of Bangladesh, and collected primary data from one hundred and fifty-five respondents through a structured questionnaire along with an interview (semi-structured) schedule. Samples were selected by applying a multistage sampling technique. Researchers analyzed quantitative data using SPSS software and qualitative data using the thematic analysis method. Study findings reveal that nepotism, patron–client relation, corruption, unequal treatment, management flaws, low level of community engagement, political consideration, and lack of monitoring were the major issues in providing effective service delivery to slum dwellers during COVID-19. Citizen participation, well coordination, proper monitoring, impersonality, and good governance are indispensable for dealing with any crisis.

Flash flooding considerations aside: Knowledge brokering by the extension and advisory services to adapt a farming system to flash flooding

The development of agriculture sector and livelihood in Bangladesh are threatened by various climatic stressors, including flash flooding. Therefore, Extension and advisory services (EAS) need to navigate the knowledge landscape effectively to connect various farm actors and help secure the optimum benefits of knowledge and information for making rational decisions. However, little is known how EAS can perform this task to combat various effects of climate change. This study investigates the means of brokering knowledge by the EAS to help the farming sector adapt to flash flooding. The research was conducted in the north-eastern part of Bangladesh with 73 staff of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), the largest public EAS in Bangladesh. The results showed that DAE primarily dealt with crop production-related information. However, EAS did not navigate knowledge and information about flash flooding, such as weather forecasting and crop-saving-embankments updates, among the farming actors. Moreover, they missed the broad utilization of internet-based-communication channels to rapidly navigate information and knowledge about possible flash flooding and its adaptation strategies. This article provides some policy implications to effectively support the adaptation of farming system to flash flooding through EAS.

First Report on Homestead-Based Black Pepper (Piper nigrum) Gardening at Jaintiapur of Sylhet District in Bangladesh

Black pepper (Piper nigrum), famous as “Black Gold” and also called the “king of spices,” is widely used as a spice throughout the country. It is mainly cultivated in the North-Eastern part of Bangladesh, where the gardening features, beneficiary output, and situational analysis of black pepper in the homestead areas are less explored. Hence, a study was conducted from August 2018 to July 2019 in the Nijpat and Jaintiapur unions of the Jaintiapur upazila of the Sylhet district in Bangladesh to investigate existing gardening features of black pepper cultivation and how it could be a potential option for rural farmers to improve their living standards. A structural questionnaire was prepared after the pilot test containing six aspects, viz. demographic features (age, education, homestead size, family size, annual family income), black pepper pre-plantation features (variety, seedling source, propagation method, seedling age, planting time, plant density per supporting plant, preferred pit size), post plantation practices or features (watering, nutrition supply, pruning, use of a fence, the pattern of the garden, the occurrence of pest infestation, pesticide use, supporting plants), flowering and fruiting information (first flowering time, flowering month, fruit harvesting time, harvesting method, yield range), post-harvest information (processing, marketing channel, pricing), valuation survey (beneficiary output, possible constraints, SWOT analysis). Data were collected through personal interviews with 70 randomly selected respondents who have direct/indirect experience in black pepper gardening. A SWOT analysis was conducted to analyze the growers’ strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Most respondents (57.14%) collected seedlings from their own output; 94.29% utilized stem cuttings for black pepper multiplication and planted primarily between July and August (54.29 %). The majority of responders (71.43%) transplanted two to three seedlings per supporting tree, keeping a pit size of primarily 45×45×45 cm3 (54.29%). It was found that farmers preferred neither chemical fertilizer nor manure (54.29%), watering (65.71%), no use of fence (91.43%), standards (100%), no pruning and weeding (100%), pesticide use (77.14%) in black pepper garden, generally. The first flowering took 3 to 4 years (65.71%), May to June (91.43%) was the flowering month, fruit harvesting time was found to be November to December (100%), harvesting method was done manually (100%), and yield was 2.0 kg supporting plant-1 (62.86%). Respondents followed the conventional method of processing. The analysis showed that there was about Tk. 682.5 kg-1 pricing difference between farmers and Megashops. The constraints were the lack of appropriate knowledge, government assistance, soil moisture during the dry season, and high-quality planting materials. Farmers acknowledged the beneficiary output of black pepper, where 88.57% were satisfied with their generated outcomes as they believed it could provide environmental benefits (100%), medicinal value (77.14%), and no health hazards (100%). Farmers believed that in terms of environmental benefits, black pepper gardening provided soil improvement, increased amenities, oxygen release, and carbon dioxide release. Situational analysis revealed a vast scope of black pepper gardening, which could be a potential option for achieving Sustainable Development Goals. Hence, this ground needs more focus and further research initiatives to increase its potential to be effective.

FLOOD DAMAGE MITIGATION AND RESILIENCE IN BANGLADESH PERSPECTIVE

The northeastern part of Bangladesh is facing more diverse problems such as more frequent and severe floods, sea level rise, saltiness water, and loss of biodiversity due to poor management of flooding systems. This article investigates that about 55% ,60% & 50% area was sequentially inundated in A.D. 1988, A.D. 1998 and A.D.2007. These 3 floods were historically more horrible than any other catastrophic flood. In A.D. 2007 flooding made 9 million people homeless and roughly 1000 people died. However, due to institutional limitations, mismanagement and social conflicts, applications of the flood mitigation plan and water management approaches were not implemented. With every major flood in Bangladesh, water security and poverty situations are adversely affected. Heavy monsoon rain and water from upstream sources have triggered drainage levels occasionally considered the main causes of flood in Bangladesh. But this article explores that the main causes of flood of Bangladesh are lack of river beds mining, lack of stabilizing trees, dam, and lack of bank revetment both sides of the river. According to the field data, in Bangladesh there are only 35% of flood protected zone. On the contrary, there are 52% of flood unprotected area. This article analyzed flood hazard in Bangladesh and try to make nature-based solutions for mitigating this vulnerability.

Accessing the prevalence of cancer biomarkers in suspected patients from northeastern part of Bangladesh

Background: Early detection and/or characterization of cancer associated biomarkers have revolutionized the personalized treatment approach of cancer to date. Therefore this study was design to accessed the prevalence of suspected cancer biomarkers from northeastern part of Bangladesh. Materials and Methods: A total of 892 patients’ data were analyzed in a cross-sectional manner and the collection period was 2017 to 2019. An ELISA-based chemiluminescent microparticle immune assay was used to detect serum cancer biomarkers. An unpaired t-test was used to compare the independent variables. Results: Data were clustered into four categories; group1 (10-17 yr, adolescent), group2 (18 to 35 yr, young adult), group3 (36 to 55 yr, middle), and group4 (>55 yr, older adult). Serum PSA level was higher in group4 than group3 (mean ± sem, 8.422 ± 1.423 vs 3.884 ±1.15 ng/ml). CA-125 is significantly higher in females with age > 35 yr (older and middle) than at age <35 yr (young adult and adolescent). No significant difference in AFP was found among the four age groups while sexual disparity has shown a statistically significant difference. Both males and females from group4 were showing a higher expression level of CEA (96.94 ± 54.02 and 48.23 ± 25.45 ng/ml respectively) though gender-wise test frequency was same. CA19-9 was high in group4 whereas no correlation was found between the gender variation. Conclusion: Our analysis have shown that level of PSA, CA-125, CEA and CA19-9 were upregulated in older peoples, while AFP was higher in male than female.

Analyzing the value chain for vegetables in the North-Eastern part of Bangladesh

This paper aims to explore the value chain of vegetables with the explicit objectives of observing actors’ performance in the chain and examining vegetable supply factors in the market. The primary data were gathered from 150 value chain actors in the North-Eastern part of Bangladesh, using simple random and purposive sampling techniques. The major actors were input suppliers, producers, local traders (Paiker-1/Bepari, Arathdar, and Paiker cum retailers), and retailers. Input supply, production, marketing, and consumption were the typical value chain activities. Before reaching the end-users, a minimum value has been added to the products. A local trader named Paiker-1/Bepari governed the chain. They had a capital advantage over the other traders. The regression models’ outcomes showed that marketable supply was significantly affected by the quantity of production and distance to market in tomato, cabbage, and cauliflower. However, in the case of beans, it was considerably affected by output, remoteness from the marketplace, and access to training.

IMPACT OF TRANS-BOUNDARY COAL MINES ON WATER QUALITY OF RECEIVING STREAMS IN NORTH-EASTERN BANGLADESH

In the north-eastern part of Bangladesh, direct discharge of Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) from upstream Khashi hill areas of Meghalaya into trans-boundary Rivers causes huge losses of fish and crops. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of coal mines on water quality on the basis of physico-chemical parameters, such as temperature, pH, electrical conductivity, dissolved oxygen, biological oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand, total dissolved solids, and heavy metals viz. Fe, Pb, Cr and Cd. For this purpose, a total of 15 samples were collected with 3 replications from 5 different locations of Jadukata River. The mean values of the analyzed parameters for 5 different sampling sites ranged: pH: 6.63-8.47; temperature: 25.77-26.8 °C; EC 344.51-383.50 μS cm-1; DO: 7.60-8.30 mg l-1; TDS 337.33-454.33 ppm; BOD: 0.70-1.93 mg l-1; COD: 1.20-2.30 mg l-1; Fe: 0.69-0.86 mg l-1; Pb: 0.05-0.07 mg l-1; Cr: 0.04-0.06 mg l-1. Analyzed results show that, most of the values of the considered parameters were higher at Lakmachara point, which is the nearest site to the Indian border and low at Rajargao, the farthest from the border. Almost all the values of Pb and Cr in different sampling points were higher than their permissible limits for drinking but, the values were within limit for irrigation activities. Other parameters were found within the permissible limit for drinking and irrigation usage. The gradual descending variations of the analyzed parameters from downstream to upstream were mostly due to the effect of AMD, which was mixed with the water of Jadukata River. Leaching of heavy metals near Khashi hill areas of Meghalaya at the upstream of Jadukata River are the major causes of contamination of the Jadukata River.

Lifestyle and dietary habits of high school going students in north-eastern part of Bangladesh during COVID-19 Pandemic

Food habits and lifestyle are risk factors of health problem. Moreover, adulthood health depends on adolescent health. A cross-sectional study was designed to know the lifestyle and dietary habits of high school going students during the pandemic. A semi-structured questionnaire was developed and data were collected randomly from the students. Descriptive analysis, logistic regression model and factor analysis were used to analyze the data. The results revealed that most of the students fairly follow the lifestyle and dietary habits. It is observed that students who read newspapers daily are 75% more likely to follow the dietary pattern. During a pandemic, most of the high school going students in north-eastern part of Bangladesh were taking protein types food (communality=0.724) and vegetables (communality=0.694) maximum times per week. Students increased their sleeping hours (communality=0.784) and intended to do job (communality=0.781) to help their families during the COVID-19. Moreover, the study also observed some important lifestyle factors like- watching mobile/laptop, connecting social media etc. and most of the students (45%) thought that electronic devices hamper their normal education. Taken together, the findings of this study may be useful to make awareness in the society about the healthy and unhealthy lifestyle as well as food habits. Government and Non-Government organizations should take proper nutritional and health related programs in the high schools that provide healthy lifestyle and food habits for improving the public health sector in Bangladesh. Asian J. Med. Biol. Res. 2021, 7 (4), 359-366

An Analysis of the Morphological Changes of Surma River in Sylhet District Using Multitemporal Remote Sensing Images

The Surma River is one of the most important rivers in the northeastern part of Bangladesh, which has changed significantly throughout history. Very few studies have taken place to understand this river's complex behavior, which characterizes its morphology. The core objective of this research is to analyze the river dynamics to understand the morphological changes of the river from 1978 to 2021. Remotely sensed satellite images of 1978, 1989, 1999, 2011, and 2021 were secondary data. The whole working procedure is the correction of satellite images, application of normalized difference water index (NDWI), demarcation of the river bank line using bank line methods, quantification of the erosion-deposition using an overlapping method, demarcation of central line shifting, measurement of the river width and finally the sinuosity index metering for 43 years. The river has changed significantly in several locations within the period in Sylhet District. Ten bends, three segments, and 200 points were taken to quantify the change dynamics. The overall analysis found that the left bank shifted more than the right bank. According to the findings, the deposition rate (80.98m/year) of river Surma is almost double the erosion rate (42.11m/year), which causes a significant decline in river width from 163m in 1978 to 123m in 2011. After counting 200 sample points, the result concluded that the average central line shifted more than average (79.50m) at 38 points indicates three major locations- Kanaighat, Dakshin Banigram, and Lalargaon. Finally, the sinuosity index found that the river became more meander following its shifting movement except the ninth bend near Kandigaon. The riverine people indicated several anthropogenic factors, e.g., encroachment, illegal construction, pollution, illegal sand extraction, as the key issues which should be intervened and take necessary action. Â

First report of Epuraea sp. (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae) on bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria) in north eastern part of Bangladesh

First report of Epuraea sp. (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae) on bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria) in north eastern part of Bangladesh

A Review on the environmental and health impacts due to electronic waste disposal in Bangladesh

Bangladesh is one of the main importer countries of e-waste in the world. Moreover, country also generates e-waste about 2.81 million metric tons per year. However, majority of e-waste is being dumped into the open soil, open land, or open water bodies resulting problem on environment (i.e., pollution) and human population (i.e., health). Therefore, present review summarizes the environmental and health impact due to disposal of e-waste. Poorly management of e-waste during the collection, processing, recycling, and land filling causing environmental impact followed by air pollution, soil pollution, water pollution, and degradation of the beach because hazardous compounds spread to the surrounding or environment. Furthermore, e-waste also creates lots of health problems. Humans can be exposed to e-waste contaminants by the inhalation, dietary intake, dust ingestion, and dermic contact. In north eastern part of Bangladesh, about 36.3% women who lives near recycling sites experienced the death of a baby. Again, about 15% child laborers die, and 83% child laborers are affected by long term health problem because of e-waste mismanagement practice. There are about 120,000 Bhangaries who may be exposed to e-waste contaminants more seriously. The result of the study would provide us important insight into the growing concern of e-waste and would help policy maker for designing policy measure to recycle e-waste in a hazard free manner.

Trends of Rainfall and Temperature in Bangladesh: A Comparative Analysis of CMIP5 Results and Meteorological Station Data

The Coupled Model Inter-comparison Project phase 5 (CMIP5) dataset along with rainfall and temperature data, recorded at 34 stations of Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD), is analyzed to examine the recent changes in rainfall and temperature over Bangladesh during the period 1981-2019. In the historical period, all three CMIP5 models (MPI-ESM-LR, MPI-ESM-MR and NorESM1-M) underestimated the observed mean rainfall data collected from BMD, whereas for temperature the result is found to be nearly similar between model and observation. The result shows a trend of increasing mean maximum temperature of Bangladesh at a rate of 0.19°C and 0.26°C per decade and increasing mean minimum temperature at a rate of 0.18°C and 0.15°C per decade, for model and observation respectively. The study found a decreasing trend of annual rainfall in Bangladesh observed at a rate of 41.60 mm and 39.77 mm per decade, respectively, for model and observation. Spatial distribution shows an increase in annual rainfall in the northeastern part of Bangladesh. The Dhaka University Journal of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Vol. 9(2), 2020, P 9-18

Monitoring the Complex Dynamics of LULC Change of Tanguar Haor, a Ramsar Site in the Northeastern Part of Bangladesh

The bowl-shaped depressions between the natural levees of rivers, mostly found in the wetland of the north-eastern part of Bangladesh are locally known as Haor. This study has tried to find out the dynamics of land use/land cover (LULC) change of Tanguar Haor, a Ramsar Site of Bangladesh between 1989 and 2017. Satellite data from Landsat archive have been used to determine the LULC change and collected primary data through a questionnaire survey used to identify the factors and impacts of LULC change. Post-classification change detection techniques have been applied to evaluate the LULC change, and descriptive statistics are applied for qualitative analysis of primary data as well as other secondary data

Development and Testing of a Low-Cost Water Level Sensor and a Mobile Based Real-time Flood Warning System for the Flash Flood Prone North Eastern Part of Bangladesh

Background: The North-Eastern part of Bangladesh suffers from frequent flash flood, causing colossal damage to life and properties, especially the vast croplands. A distributed sensing system can monitor the water level on a continuous basis to warn people near the riverbank beforehand and reduce the damage largely. However, the required communication infrastructure is not available in most of the remote rural areas in a developing country like Bangladesh. Objective: This study intends to develop a low-cost sensor-based warning system, customizing to the Bangladesh context. Method: The system utilizes a low-cost ultrasound based sensor device, a lightweight mobile phone based server, low-cost IoT sensing nodes, and a central server for continuous monitoring of river stage data along with the provision of storage and long-term data analytics. Results: A flash flood warning system developed afterward with the sensors, mobile-based server, and appropriate webbased interfaces. The device was tested for some environmental conditions in the lab and deployed it later in the outdoor conditions for short-term periods. Conclusion: Overall, the warning system performed well in the lab as well as the outdoor environment, with the ability to detect water level at reasonable accuracy and transmit data to the server in real time. Some minor shortcomings still noted with the scope for improvements, which are in the way to improve further.

A study on the impact of the 2017 early monsoon flash flood: Potential measures to safeguard livelihoods from extreme climate events in the haor area of Bangladesh

The northeastern part of Bangladesh is characterized by a unique wetland ecosystem called haor, which experiences regular monsoon flooding starting from late May/June. But change in rainfall pattern over last few decades has resulted in increased risk of early monsoon flash floods like the flood of 2017, which wreaked havoc in the haor at the beginning of April. Through a cross sectional survey covering 1845 flood affected households, the present study aims at understanding this flood's effects on their livelihoods and recommending policies to safeguard livelihoods in the face of changing climate. Analysis of rainfall and river water level data revealed that heavy rainfall in the haor and adjacent Indian sub-catchments were the main reasons behind this unprecedented event. Loss of income because of this flood was common, but was more prevalent among the older respondents, people having lower educational attainment and persons dependent on natural resources-based occupations. Most of the people who were forced to switch occupations experienced reduction in average daily income, irrespective of whatever occupations they switched to. Food insecurity was common among all groups, but was predominant among fishermen and day labourers. Integrated measures including development of real-time early warning system, community-based early response, proper management of crop protection embankments and regular dredging of waterways are essential to reduce the vulnerability of the people to flood. Furthermore, rapid expansion of newly developed short duration rice varieties (e.g. BRRI dhan 81), employment of case seedlings/raised-bed seedlings in elevated lands to ensure high quality timely transplantation immediately after recession of stagnant water, introduction of other profitable crops, poultry and dairy farming (e.g. sheep farming), creation of skill-based alternative livelihood options to adapt the agriculture sector with the changing climate. An equitable investment by the government is crucial to foster the economic growth by ending poverty by 2030, and to secure decent income, better livelihood and food security of the haor inhabitants.

Checklist of fish species in the Shari-Goyain river, Bangladesh: Threats and conservation measures

The study was conducted from September 2017 to August 2018 to investigate the fish diversity status of the Shari-Goyain river, in the northeastern part of Bangladesh. A total of 66 fish species belong to 9 orders and 27 families were identified. Among these, almost 80% of the total fish population was from the orders, Siluriformes, Cypriniformes, and Perciformes. Fishes from the family Cyprinidae (22.71%) were found to be most abundant. Among 14 common groups of fishes identified, the highest contribution (28.79%) was from the catfishes. Ten vulnerable, eight endangered, and one critically endangered fish species were recorded. Alarmingly, based on their availability, 25 % and 18 % of the entire fish community were found to be rare and very rare, respectively. The present study suggests various conservation initiatives entailing the establishment of the fish sanctuary, ranching of threatened fish species, strict enactment of fishing laws and community-based fisheries management.

Investigating the risk and resilience of flash flood in Sunamgonj haor region of Bangladesh

Bangladesh faces various types of natural hazards from its birth due to geographical location and physiographic conditions. Flood is the most common event among them. Northeastern part of Bangladesh faces flash flood almost every year with large scale of damage. Tanguar haor, (a famous Ramsar site of Bangladesh) located in Tahirpur upazila of Sunamgonj district. This wetland adjacent area is the most vulnerable zone in terms of flash flood hazard. About more than 80%, people are the direct victim of this hazard. The aim of this study was to assess the risk and resilience status of flash flood at community level. A risk and resilience assessment matrix leads to fulfill the assessment where only primary data were used. A comparative study between those statuses is computed based on Pearson correlation of co-efficient analysis that presents the difference of risk and resilience of the study area that helps to realize the emergence of flash flood risk reduction. The findings of this study will be a pathway for the policy makers, local administrators for the development of sustainable community level risk management, policy-making and its implementations.
 Int. J. Agril. Res. Innov. Tech. 10(2): 47-53, December 2020

Predictability of Orographic Rainfall Features Over Sylhet Using Nwp Model

Topography and orography are two physical factors which produce high impact rainfall over the North-eastern part of Bangladesh. To predict the orographic rainfall of 29 March 2017 over Sylhet, Bangladesh an attempt has been performed using Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. The model has been run in a single domain of 10 km horizontal resolution for 48-h and 72-h using six hourly global final datasets from 0000 UTC of each initial day of the event as initial and lateral boundary conditions with NSSL 2-moment microphysics scheme, Kain–Fritsch cumulous scheme and Yonsei University Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL) scheme. The model outputs such as sea level pressure, wind flow, vorticity, wind shear, humidity, Convective Available Potential Energy (CAPE), Convective Inhibition, Lifted Index, K-index, Total Total Index and rainfall have been analyzed. The model predicted weather parameters were visualized by Grid Analysis and Display System (GrADS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) software and validated with observed data of Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD), Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) and European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMRWF) data. The analysis determines that the CAPE of magnitude 800- 1000 JKg-1, positive vorticity of (6-10) ×10-5s-1 and relative humidity of 80-100% up to 500-400 hPa levels are accountable for the happening of the orographic extreme rainfall and other parameters are compatible with the observed or theoretical values. This study indicates that the model with an appropriate model set up is capable to predict the orographic precipitation realistically well and can be used for upcoming events.
 Journal of Engineering Science 11(2), 2020, 61-73

Integrating an Expert System, GIS, and Satellite Remote Sensing to Evaluate Land Suitability for Sustainable Tea Production in Bangladesh

Land evaluation is important for assessing environmental limitations that inhibit higher yield and productivity in tea. The aim of this research was to determine the suitable lands for sustainable tea production in the northeastern part of Bangladesh using phenological datasets from remote sensing, geospatial datasets of soil–plant biophysical properties, and expert opinions. Sentinel-2 satellite images were processed to obtain layers for land use and land cover (LULC) as well as the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). Data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) were used to generate the elevation layer. Other vector and raster layers of edaphic, climatic parameters, and vegetation indices were processed in ArcGIS 10.7.1® software. Finally, suitability classes were determined using weighted overlay of spatial analysis based on reclassified raster layers of all parameters along with the results from multicriteria analysis. The results of the study showed that only 41,460 hectares of land (3.37% of the total land) were in the highly suitable category. The proportions of moderately suitable, marginally suitable, and not suitable land categories for tea cultivation in the Sylhet Division were 9.01%, 49.87%, and 37.75%, respectively. Thirty-one tea estates were located in highly suitable areas, 79 in moderately suitable areas, 24 in marginally suitable areas, and only one in a not suitable area. Yield estimation was performed with the NDVI (R2 = 0.69, 0.66, and 0.67) and the LAI (R2 = 0.68, 0.65, and 0.63) for 2017, 2018, and 2019, respectively. This research suggests that satellite remote sensing and GIS application with the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) could be used by agricultural land use planners and land policy makers to select suitable lands for increasing tea production.