Hi, Lydia. A warm Permies welcome to you! I figured the composition of pumpkin might be of help.:
https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/10-things-you-probably-didnt-know-about-pumpkins#:~:text=Interestingly%2C%20pumpkins%20are%2092%20percent,vegetables%20and%20fruits%20their%20color.
Here you can see #6, that Pumpkin is 92% water, so it has to get it from somewhere. Perhaps, in an arid area, if you can grow your pumpkin an a
bucket of rich and well watered soil, you would be ahead. If I had that problem, since pumpkin roots are rather shallow, I'd use a homer bucket [5 gallon] and make holes not in the bottom but about 4-5" up the side of the bucket, insuring that after the first watering, there would always be 4-5" of water in the bucket. You could bury the bucket to the rim and also mulch the plant.
Look also at #9: Native tribes would grow it
along river banks. They knew that this plant [all cucurbits, which contain a high percentage of water, really] is water dependent.
The problem that people have in Bangladesh, which is used as an example in the article you quote, is more one of poverty and lack of water
suitable for *drinking*.
On Bangladesh Aid America, they specify:
https://www.wateraid.org/us/where-we-work/bangladesh
"Bangladesh has an abundance of water, with around 24,000 km of rivers flowing through its fertile
land. But providing water safe enough for everyone to drink is a complex national problem".
The article you quote states:" In Bangladesh,
mini deserts – known as sand bars – are formed due to climate change-caused flooding during the torrential rains of the five month-long monsoon". In the very next sentence, they specify: "The sediments deposited contain highly toxic elements due to river pollution, and they render the land infertile."
So the problem is not really due to lack of water. Rather, it is a problem of pollution: The water that flows in the rivers ruins the soil. They are now advocating for collection barrels/ / cisterns/ reservoirs that would more than meet the need for multiple crops, thirsty or not. The water falling from the sky is fine, and abundant. After it passes through toxic deposits, however, that water is a lot less suitable, especially for drinking.