Climate change poses threat to livelihood in Barind tract

RAJSHAHI, Nov 28 (BSS): Adverse impact of climate change has started posing a serious threat to the farming sector alongside overall living and livelihood condition in vast barind tract consisting the districts of Rajshahi, Naogaon and Chapainawabgonj for the last couple of years.

The adverse situation has directly been negatively impacting the water, sanitation, overall public health and sustainable livelihood in the region, said AKM Zilani, a development activist of Nachole in Chapainawabgonj.

Substantial and sustainable promotion of water and sanitation related modern technologies have become an urgent need to face the natural catastrophe, he mentioned.

Although the region has achieved sustainable progress in increasing food grain production through strong liberalised smallholders and public irrigation, groundwater use for irrigation is a growing matter of concern in the barind tract, according to a recent study.

Prof Dr Chowdhury Sarwar Jahan, Principal Investigator of the study, says food security of the area is highly dependent on irrigational inputs with groundwater being the main component for food production.