Community water management to intensify agricultural productivity in the polders of the coastal zone of Bangladesh

Most of the lands of the southern coastal zone of Bangladesh are protected from tidal flooding and storm surges by embankments constructed during the 1960s and 1970s, creating polders. Sluice gates in the embankments connect the canals (former river distributaries) inside the polders to the surrounding rivers, providing the opportunity for water intake from, or drainage to the rivers by judicious management of the gates. Yet, unlike northern and...