Depletion of fertile agricultural lands in Bangladesh has ever remained a serious issue. But sadly, the authorities concerned, especially the Land Ministry, appear to have shut their eyes to the serious development that might one day turn out to be a catastrophe for the country. The Prime Minister herself has pointed this out several times in the recent past but fruitlessly.
There is no way grains that lands produce will be cheaper in the days ahead, as the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organisatioin has already warned. Bangladesh cannot feed its rising population if lands that produce food crops vanish fast due to senseless human encroachment. According to official data, more than one per cent of the country's fertile farm lands is being depleted annually.
One is likely to be shocked by the rate at which farm lands are developed into homesteads or production units. Workers, employed in Gulf countries, are now using their hard-earned money to buy such agricultural lands to build homes, not because of their need but to assume status in society! Already they have their ancestral homes nearby, not yet overcrowded.
A recent survey found that per capita cultivated land in Bangladesh is only 12.5 decimals. Such high rate of conversion will not only hamper agricultural production but will have adverse impact on food security. The study is based mainly on field survey covering 24 villages from six divisions of the country.
The survey says, the annual conversion of farm land is estimated to be 0.56 per cent and the country's loss of rice production is also estimated to be between 0.86 and 1.16 per cent. The converted land is predominantly used for construction of houses, followed by roads and establishment of business enterprises. The land-poor records higher rate of land conversion. The two principal determining factors for such conversion are found to be land ownership size of a household and the non-agricultural occupation of household heads.
To arrest the existing rate of land conversion, the surveyed households have suggested more profitable rates of return from farming activities beside imposing special sales tax for conversion of farm land. It is generally claimed that in Bangladesh every year over 80 thousand hectares of agricultural land i.e. nearly one per cent a year (Planning Commission 2009) is being converted to non-agriculture purposes. This is definitely a matter of serious concern for the land-scarce country like Bangladesh where per capita cultivated area is only 15 decimals. This is too meagre a size for the country's food security as the productivity of land in Bangladesh is also low.
To stop such reckless conversion is not difficult. A tough law providing exemplary punishment for unnecessary conversion of fertile lands can be put in place. The Union Parishad Chairmen may be asked to report such conversion to the Thana Nirbahi Officer who can alert the Land Ministry for necessary action.
arjayster@gmail.com
Fertile farm lands vanishing fast
Rahman Jahangir | Published: January 18, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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